Before and Ever After
by ShadowBlah2
Summary: The Collective Unconscious owed Lelouch a debt, and sending him back in time seemed like the best way to repay him. After all, Lelouch was never one to stop while he was ahead. In C, all things are possible, whether in the Before, or even the Ever After.
1. C

_ A past undone, a future to come,_

* * *

><p><strong>C<strong>

C's World. It was a place of mystery; a place made of the unbridled imaginations of all people, living and dead. To any person who managed to actually gain access to this forbidden place, it would appear as a barren wasteland waiting to be filled with structures and objects built straight from the onlooker's own mind. Always, however, would a bright, imposing form loom overhead. To any mortal, it would appear to be the planet Jupiter. But if one were to look deeper, to listen to the whispers slithering from its surface as it hung in the starless sky, they might realize that it was so much more. This "Jupiter" was merely a mask, the visual representation of the Collective Unconscious itself, the hub in which all human thought resided. It was the very center of the World of C and what allowed it to exist in the first place.

On this day, the whispers from the Collective Unconscious were turned to rapid dialogues and aggravated debate. There were so many voices, shifting and overlapping, not even one who had grown accustomed to C's World could gather a fleeting idea of what was going on. Only those who had passed beyond mortality and had achieved a higher level of awareness, those who had attained a Geass Code, could decipher the meaning of what was being said, and even further, understand which individual part of the Collective Unconscious was speaking. What a Code Bearer would see this day, if they were to look into the Collective Unconscious, would be a sea of people gathered together and talking hurriedly amongst themselves. Discerning eyes could pick out the shapes of people long dead, foremost among them, Clovis la Britannia.

"This is it, everyone!" There was a brief hush as Clovis took charge. "We're ready to vote! All in favour, say 'Yay.' All not in favour, say 'Nay.'

There was a resounding cheer of "Yay" throughout the crowd, but as it finished, a lone "Nay" was heard.

All around there was a groan of frustration as everyone turned to face the dissident. There he was, appearing just as he had when he'd died, headphones over his ears and visor across his eyes, Mao the Mind Reader stood with his arms crossed and a frown plastered across his face. Clovis put his head down into his palm.

"The opposing party has the floor to state their objections. What's your problem this time, Mao?"

"What's my problem?" Mao said, clearly offended that Clovis wasn't reading his mind. "Lelouch is an asshole, that's my problem!"

Another voice sung out to challenge him and the crowd parted to reveal Shirley Fenette.

"Mao, we've been over this more than a dozen times! Even if you _were _right it doesn't change the fact that it's your opinion, and we all agreed to be objective here. And besides, you're NOT right. Lulu is a hero, you're wrong, end of story."

Mao gave an indignant "HMPH," before boldly stating his counterargument.

"I'm wrong? PROVE IT."

As he finished his words, the crowd erupted into a chorus of irritated grumbles and bursts of profanity.

Loudest among them was Luciano Bradley, spewing obscenities left and right, finally ending with "I'm not paying attention 'til we get rid of this damn Chinaman."

Diethard and Darlton shared a look of dismay.

"I don't believe this."

"Does Mao really expect us to explain this again?"

Mao fumed at the various comments being directed at him and tried to reassert himself.

"Screw you guys! Why are you always down on me like this?"

Shirley finally lost her temper with the man and put her hands on her hips.

"Maybe because you're a flippin' PSYCHO!?" she screamed at him as she threw on a scowl of hate more venomous than any expression she'd made while she was alive. "It doesn't take mind-reading powers to figure that out!"

A small teenage boy with sandy hair flanking the enraged girl gave a shallow sigh. Rolo had never really gotten used to these large groups.

"Not to get us back on track or anything, but can we get back on track?"

Keeping with his previous assertion, Luciano had ceased all semblance of being involved with the conversation and had drawn one of the knives he kept on him during life.

"Hey, check this out..." he said, holding out a hand and stabbing around his fingers, trying to get an audience of his own.

Rolo sighed again. "That's a no."

Right then, Luciano lost his little game and stabbed through his thumb.

"AH, that _smarts_!"

Trying to refocus the discussion, Odysseus eu Britannia took a deep breath and put on a brave face. He knew he wasn't great at public speaking, and he was far too laid back to command attention like his brother Schneizel, but he wasn't so soft as to not bother trying.

"Mao, please look at this rationally," he began, feeling more confident with every moment. "Lelouch is a hero, he deserves this more than anyone here!"

Considering everyone assembled was already dead and was nothing more than a disembodied consciousness, Luciano had easily recovered from his accidental self-mutilation and rolled his eyes at the jolly former prince.

"I'm only in on this because messing with reality is super cool."

Mao, for his part, had had enough of looking at things rationally and spat back at his critics.

"He stole C.C. from me! Why would I ever want to-"

"BOOOOooo! Boo, Mao! Boo." Luciano put his hands to his mouth and shouted crassly, deciding to just boo Mao, rather than be constructive. For obvious reasons, Mao wasn't taking it well.

"Are you done?" he probed skeptically.

Luciano grinned and shook his head.

"No, I'm gonna keep doin' it."

Urabe, the most loyal of the Four Holy Swords, raised his voice for all to hear.

"I propose we stop indulging Mao with our attention."

The whole crowd once again quieted down as they murmured their agreement with the honourable warrior. Mao, as could easily be predicted, was having none of that, however.

"WHAT!? Why you-!"

"BOOOOooo! Boo, Mao. Go be a pain in the ass somewhere else! Boo. Liar. Liar. Mao: Liar. Boo, Mao."

Clovis decided now was the time to cut in once again, taking masterful advantage of Mao's feud with Luciano to pose a new resolution for their little meeting: "All in favour of ignoring Mao?"

As before, there was a joyful scream of "Yay" from the crowd and a lone, obstinate "Nay."

Clovis threw up his hands and exclaimed as loudly as he could "Motion passed by unanimous vote!"

There was wild cheering in response and angry muttering from a single man toward the back. Clovis fed off the energy of the assembled group and swept his hand out before him.

"Back to our previous vote: All in favour say 'Yay.'"

"YAY!"

"By unanimous vote, it's agreed!"

There was one final cheer from all around, a massive back and forth cheer, cycling between those who had been Britannian in life, and those who had been Japanese.

"Hurrah!" "Banzai!" "HURRAH!" "BANZAI!"

Clovis stepped back and gave out a breath of relief.

"Now we just have to wait for Lelouch to get here..."

LLLLLLLLLLLL

The sword plunged deep into Lelouch's slender frame. He had known this was coming. He'd set the whole plot in motion. Still, no amount of preparation could dull the pain that seared through him at that moment, and he threw his head back as his face contorted in surprise. The whole scene played out just as he'd predicted. Lelouch vi Britannia of the House Lamperouge, King of Britannia and Emperor of the whole world, was assassinated in front of a full military escort by the mysterious vigilante-turned-international peacekeeper, Zero.

Not long ago, Lelouch would never have dreamed that this might be how his campaign to make the world a kinder and gentler place would end. But he should have realized things wouldn't go his way. It didn't matter what he had intended to happen or what he had planned for because fortune seemed to hate him. Whenever he reached his lowest point, it was as if fate itself became a physical entity just to kick him while he was down.

That's why Lelouch had arranged this assassination himself. No matter how beneficial his visions of peace would have been for the future of the world, his morale had long been spent. He was a broken man, who, despite holding the whole world in his hand, was too emotionally exhausted to continue living. He conquered everyone across the globe and set himself up as the ultimate tyrant just to have someone loyal to him slay him out in the open to become the ultimate hero. Lelouch had known his plan wasn't guaranteed to bring world peace, and if it did, it certainly wouldn't last. But he didn't care. He'd sacrificed his comfortable normal life, his relationships, his reputation, and, now that he could feel his life flowing out of him from the dripping red hole through his heart, he would admit he probably sacrificed his sanity too. There was nothing left in him. He'd given it all away to make even the slimmest chance of a new, bright future for everyone else.

The death of Lelouch vi Britannia was simultaneously the most selfish and selfless moment of his life.

LLLLLLLLLLLL

Lelouch's eyes fluttered opened. Where was he? Shouldn't he have been dead? He realized he was on his back, looking up into a black, starless sky. Jupiter hung silently above him, finally giving Lelouch all the information he needed to fully assess his situation.

"I'm in C's World."

Lelouch got to his feet. Below him was a floor of what appeared to be marble, shining brightly from some unknown light source. He was still wearing his white robes, or, rather, his mental projection was wearing his white robes. He couldn't have been physically transported to C's World, so he figured his mind was making a brief pitstop before being sucked fully into the Collective Unconscious.

"Lelouch!" a voice called to him from some distant place in the endless void. He looked around but didn't see anything. There was only Jupiter hovering in a featureless sky and a never-ending expanse in every direction.

"Lelouch!" The voice called again to him, closer this time. He heard quick footsteps behind him and turned to face them. Like a mirage, Euphemia li Britannia, Lelouch's second favourite sister, appeared before him. As she got closer, he recognized the look of pure joy on her face. She held her arms out wide and he put out his own arms, more in surprise than anything else. She ran straight into his open stance, clasping him tight, nuzzling her head into his warm, awkward embrace.

"E-Euphy...?" Lelouch choked out. He'd been to C's World before, twice in fact, but nothing like this had ever happened to him back then.

"Lelouch, hey." Another voice came from somewhere around him and a man appeared in front of the hugging siblings. Lelouch coaxed Euphy out of her death grip on him and got a good look at the newcomer. Though he was sure they'd never met, Lelouch could swear the man looked familiar. Something about his fiery red hair and the red headband he wore evoked odd memories in Lelouch that he just couldn't quite place.

"Hey, yourself," Lelouch countered dumbly. He mentally berated himself for the pathetic comeback. If he wasn't so damn confused then maybe... Euphemia interrupted Lelouch's thoughts.

"Brother, I'm so happy to see you. We've all been waiting for you!"

Now what could that mean? As little as he truly knew about C's World, Lelouch still was acquainted enough with the bizarre world of thoughts to be hesitant to ask all the questions that were steadily piling up in his brain. Luckily, he didn't have to.

"Brother Clovis and Odysseus were the only ones besides me from the family that wanted to see you. In fact, this was all Clovis' idea to begin with!" Euphy seemed positively overjoyed. Lelouch wished he could share her sentiment, but he was starting to have a bad feeling about all this. The red-head cut in next, taking his turn to explain what the absent-minded princess had meant.

"We're all dead here; all a part of the Collective Unconscious. Euphemia and I can only appear before you like this as individuals because of your link to C's World. It's just one of the benefits of that Code you're holding onto. I'm Naoto Kozuki-Stadtfeld, by the way. You know, since we never actually got to meet."

Lelouch began to sweat and his face dropped into a look of horror. Code? When had he gotten that!? He thought back to everything he knew about Geass and Code and every opportunity he'd ever had to take a Code from someone. There were only two Code Bearers, as far as he knew, just C.C. and V.V. He was sure C.C. still had her Code. That only left V.V. But he'd never actually gotten close enough to V.V. to... But wait, Charles zi Britannia had attained Code, hadn't he? He could only have gotten it from V.V., so that would mean...

"I took my father's Code the last time I was here, when he tried to strangle me." The pieces were coming together, but Lelouch wasn't feeling very smug at the moment. "If I'm immortal, if I suddenly come back to life in the real world, Zero Requiem will fall apart. This is bad, I can't go back, I can't... Wait, Naoto?"

Naoto gave a serene smile the likes of which Lelouch had rarely ever seen.

"We're just messengers for the rest of the Collective Unconscious. Euphemia wanted to see you again and I wanted to finally meet the man who shared my dream."

The redhead paused, as if deciding how to explain what was happening with as little cosmic jargon as possible.

"In the Collective Unconscious, one is all, all is one. Everyone knows everything about everyone else. As a result, when Clovis died he gained perspective on the people he'd mistreated in life. His consciousness thought up a plan to make amends, and we became aware of it."

Lelouch's head was spinning with the implications of everything that was being revealed to him. He had taken his father's Code, which meant he was immortal. From what he gathered, it took one initial death to "boot up" the Code and allow immortality. This impromptu visit to the World of C must've been just temporary until his Code revived him and started to keep him permanently alive. That could cause serious problems now that virtually everyone in the world knew him as a villain and also was aware he was "dead." As bad as that was though, he could work a way around it. What really concerned him was how little information he truly had on what was going on in C's World right then. Euphy and Naoto were being so vague. In the past, he'd been the one to be mysteriously brief. He wasn't used to being on the receiving end of such obscure comments. That and he was at an uncharacteristic loss for words. Still, before he could assemble a coherent thought and get it out his mouth, Euphemia spoke up again.

"Clovis wanted us, the Collective Unconscious, to send you back in time and we put it to a vote. The Collective Unconscious is made up of billions of minds, so any action we take must be voted on. For this one, only those of us who came into direct contact with you while we were alive were included. Back when, well, Father, was trying to kill 'God,' we couldn't decide what to do. Then you swooped in and used your Geass to force us into consensus and save us. If for no other reason, we at least owe you for that."

"Wait, wait," Lelouch put his head down into his hands and shut his eyes in exasperation. "Send me back in time? What?"

Naoto gestured calmly to Lelouch.

"Clovis thought you might be unhappy with how things turned out for yourself. He said you were a perfectionist when you two played chess and you got upset if you didn't win the game with minimal casualties. He figured you'd want to start your rebellion over now that you'd had some practice. It was like his way of asking for forgiveness for all the wrong he'd done during his life. We all agreed you were worthy of having the board reset. We've put the pieces in place so you could have a rematch. Your time here is running out before you revive back in the material world. Will you accept our offer? Or are you happy with the way things turned out?"

Lelouch considered for a moment. This was all very sudden, but he'd long since gotten used to sudden and unusual supernatural situations ever since he'd received Geass. He pondered how he should respond for only a moment before saying just one thing:

"How far back can I go?"

LLLLLLLLLLLL

Lelouch couldn't believe his senses. How could things have turned out so perfectly this time, when everything had gone to hell before?

_As far as anyone really knew, it had all started almost 3 years ago, in 2017. There were some though, of course, who claimed everything was merely the result of a massive conspiracy set in motion as far back as 2016. Nevertheless, until 2017 on the Japanese islands, known at the time as "Area 11" under Britannian occupation, terrorist bombings by nationalist factions were a daily occurrence. Then HE appeared. He was a man who challenged the Holy Britannian Empire where no one else would. He was a man who wore a mask in place of his own face and was known by no other name than Zero. As grandiose as could be, Zero declared a mission statement to the world: to undo the corruption that had taken hold of it and put an end to injustice everywhere. The primary target for his rhetoric was none other than the emperor of Britannia himself, Charles zi Britannia. First, Zero listed, would he liberate Japan from its occupation. Then he would move on to seeing justice done upon Emperor Charles. Along with this, he unveiled his personal fighting force, The Black Knights._

_Public opinion about the supposed Knights ranged heavily at first. Some considered them nothing more than a small band of naive idealists, radicals who would be completely annihilated in their first stand-up battle against the Britannian Empire. Others took the less nuanced approach of simply calling them "terrorists." Appallingly, or so it was perceived at the time, Prince Clovis la Britannia, viceroy of Area 11 on behalf of His Majesty, Emperor Charles, actually made several public admissions of respect for the masked crusader's virtuous goals, (accusations of Charles' villainy notwithstanding). It wasn't long before charges of sympathizing with terrorists were brought before him. Under looming threat of execution for treason, Clovis defected to Zero._

_Though he made it no secret that he intended to eventually depose Charles zi Britannia, and would fight a brutal war to do so if needs were, Zero initially took his Black Knights on vigilante missions. Slowly, they worked to purge Area 11 of organized crime and in doing, garnered support from both Britannians who had immigrated to the colony and the beleaguered natives. Occasionally, the Black Knights would come into direct military conflict with the Area 11 Colonial Army under the new viceroyship of Princesses Cornelia and Euphemia li Britannia, but due to the shrewd planning, and seeming clairvoyance of Zero, they would always march away victorious. The more this occurred, the clearer it became to the oppressed masses in Area 11, as well as the nobles and royals keeping them down, that the Black Knights were indeed just as determined and potent as Zero boasted._

_As Zero amassed more and more power for his knights and commanded ever increasing influence among the Eleven peasants, full-scale war between the Black Knights and Britannia quickly began to appear as a real, and some would say inevitable, possibility. Amidst this general feeling of dread, Lelouch and Nunnally vi Britannia, Britannian royals long thought dead, revealed they were indeed alive and had been in hiding. They gave detailed explanations of their experiences during the 2010 Britannian-Japanese Trade War, (colloquially "The Second Pacific War"), shocking the public and adding to Zero's ever-growing list of atrocities committed by Emperor Charles. Just as Clovis had defected to save himself from the noose, Lelouch and Nunnally came before Zero to ask for protection. Perhaps that was the moment, the turning point for the Black Knights and the world._

_As utterly brainwashed and indoctrinated as Britannians had become through vicious propaganda campaigns, there was no way to stop the apprehension felt throughout the empire as the vi Britannia siblings recounted their story. Together, they outlined the outright lack of concern Emperor Charles had had for their safety, his actions seeming almost as if he had wanted them dead. This was the bursting point. National confidence in Charles zi Britannia faltered for the first time ever and morale of troops in Area 11 evaporated as Cornelia and Euphemia publicly reeled in horror at the mistreatment of their dear siblings. In short, Britannian citizens were confused and unfocused and the Black Knights were surer of their purpose than ever. With this, Zero struck._

_Though Cornelia may have been sympathetic to her siblings now wearing the Black and Silver, she still rallied her garrison against the rebel army. Zero, leading the charge, threw his bold troops against the Britannian defenders by the hundreds and, despite heavy casualties, came through for his people. The siege of the Tokyo Settlement had started at midnight, and by morning, the Black Knights were raising their flag all across the, thankfully, mostly intact city. Once again, Zero had won the day. "Justice," as some were starting to say, "could not be denied." The battle for the Tokyo Settlement became the centerpiece of what would later come to be known as "The Black Rebellion."_

_Viceroy Cornelia and Sub-Viceroy Euphemia li Britannia submitted to Zero. Area 11, renamed as the United States of Japan, was now firmly held by entrenched rebels and the future looked more promising than ever. Still though, the objective was ever the same: to root out the corruption of the world, starting with the poison trickling down from Charles zi Britannia into the Britannian Empire as a whole._

_Over the next year, the USJ and their military force, the Black Knights, headed by Zero, worked feverishly to rebuild their nation's infrastructure and forge alliances to survive a retaliatory invasion by Britannia. Zero turned first to the Chinese Federation. What Zero found was most worrying. The Chinese high eunuchs had arranged a marriage between Britannia's Crown Prince Odysseus eu Britannia and the Chinese puppet ruler Empress Tianzi, all but handing their country to Britannia on a silver platter. For the high eunuchs, this was a chance to gain more power and status in Britannia than they had in the Chinese Federation. For Britannia, it was an opportunity to crush the USJ's hopes of allying themselves to the Asian superpower. However, known to Zero but unbeknownst to the eunuchs and Britannians, the empress's bodyguard, Li Xingke, was planning a coup to eliminate the corrupt regency council of high eunuchs and refocus the government under the leadership of the empress. Unto this, Zero, the rumours of his precognition becoming always more widespread, outplotted everyone and enacted Xingke's plan himself, destabilizing the federation and causing riots to break out across its borders against the treachery of the high eunuchs. Empress Tianzi, finally in control of her own country, aligned herself with Zero and signed an agreement of coalition with the USJ against Britannia. As a sign of good faith, Xingke joined the Black Knights as a representative for the Chinese Federation. Another victory for Zero._

_The European Union too had been suffering, though unlike the Chinese Federation's internal problems, their grievance was entirely external, in the form of Britannia's unstoppable war machine. It hardly even took any soliloquizing from Zero to coax them onto the bandwagon and join the Black Knights coalition against Britannia. With the European power onboard, Zero introduced the idea of the United Federation of Nations, a permanent alliance of nations with the Black Knights as the alliance's military force, and it was met with roaring applause. The year was 2019 and the world was divided by a line in the sand between the UFN and the Holy Britannian Empire._

LLLLLLLLLLLL

"Your Majesty?"

Lelouch realized at that moment that he'd been staring into the distance for some time now. It still seemed like a dream, all too good to be true. The Black Knights were victorious, the Geass Order had been annihilated, the Ragnarok Connection was permanently cancelled, Emperor Charles was dead and Lelouch was installed as the new emperor on top of that.

Taking command of the empire was hardly a clean and easy affair, though. Most Britannians were indignant and viewed Lelouch's succession as usurping the throne with the aid of a foreign army. But then he declared a series of projects that were to take place during his reign. Among the first great projects announced by the Black King was plans for massive social reform and an immediate ending of the Number System, giving full, free citizenship to all those within the borders of the Holy Britannian Empire. Such moves toward greater freedom and fairness managed to endear Lelouch to the commoners, though in turn distressed the nobles immensely. Attempts to threaten or intimidate Lelouch into keeping the old ways, by nobles, corrupt politicians and holdovers from the Charles regime, were met with an offer to speak about the affairs in private. Every time though, the troublemaker would leave wide-eyed, unblinking, with a blank, soulless stare on their face. And if anyone asked what had gone on behind closed doors, they would answer slowly, robotically, with monotonous "All hail Lelouch"s.

Today was a special day. Emperor Lelouch had declared that this would henceforth be a national holiday in Britannia, "Alliance Day," so the people of the empire could always remember that they were now allied to the other nations of the world, rather than standing in opposition to them. Years of exposure to Social Darwinistic propaganda was making it difficult for Britannians to get used to the idea of peace between "the strong" and "the weak," but, Lelouch figured, reversing such a mindset would take time, and this was as good a place to start as any.

Lelouch was standing in the main hall of Britannia's temporary royal palace, seeing as the official one had been shot to pieces during the Black Knights siege of Pendragon. For the first celebration of Alliance Day, the new emperor had invited officers he knew from the Black Knights, officials of the UFN, Britannian friends and family, and other dignitaries, to a grand ball. He dedicated the party to the goal of preserving peace, but everyone there knew it was more a chance to relax and spend time with each other after surviving such a strenuous few years. Everyone was wearing their finest clothes and more importantly, they were having the best time possible.

"Oh, sorry," Lelouch replied, following with an embarrassed laugh. He idly adjusted the ceremonial crown he wore on his head then took a long look down at the black, gold and purple of his regal dress coat. "I was just thinking."

Suzaku smiled knowingly at his friend.

_Suzaku had been only a lowly foot soldier for the Area 11 Colonial Army when Zero appeared, as if from nowhere, and raised the black and silver flag of rebellion. Suzaku had fought on the Britannian side during the Black Rebellion, and when the defenders admitted defeat, the victors had shown Suzaku particular disdain as a traitor to the former nation of Japan. Lelouch stepped in to save him from the lynch mob, though. Since joining up with Zero, he'd accumulated some respect within the Black Knights' ranks and even gained some sway with the masked man himself._

"C'mon, Lelouch, stop spacing out! Euphy's been looking for you."

"Oh, right..." Lelouch nodded sheepishly, still flustered he'd gotten lost in thought. 'Euphemia...'

_When Princesses Cornelia and Euphemia surrendered and were taken prisoner, they were allowed to conference with their siblings who had joined Zero. Cornelia left that meeting pledging her support for Zero's cause and her eternal contempt for their father Charles. She even went as far as to swear she would see the man put before a firing squad. Euphemia was less vociferous and certainly less antagonistic, but agreed that the Emperor was wrong and had to be stopped. That's when Lelouch introduced Suzaku to his pretty, pink sister, and even suggested that he be trained as a knightmare pilot. It was as if Lelouch knew something they didn't._

"Lelouch, there you are!" Euphemia raised her hands in delight as her brother and his best friend came into sight. She ran right up to Lelouch and threw her arms around him, wrapping him in her loving embrace. She eventually let go before placing a quick peck on his cheek and going over to Suzaku, taking his hand in hers.

Euphy and Suzaku had totally hit it off, just as Lelouch knew they would. Lelouch hadn't even needed to geass Suzaku to live. Apparently his wonderful younger sister was more than enough reason for his friend to continue living. Not everyone was pleased that the princess was in a relationship with a foreigner, but they refrained from voicing their opinions on the matter. Suzaku Kururugi was, after all, technically Britannian. He'd been an Honourary Citizen for years now. Second, he was a war hero who had singlehandedly fended off three Knights of the Round during the Siege of Pendragon. Third, he was now the Knight of One, appointed by Emperor Lelouch following his coronation a week after the war's end.

_Lelouch had been unwilling, at first, to take on the role of Britannian Emperor. The Black Knights leadership, including the Black Knight Royals, as the siblings who fought against their father's rule came to be known, had held a meeting on the Black Knights flagship, the Ikaruga, on how to rebuild Britannia now that it had been utterly smashed. The first subject was putting a new monarch in charge of the Britannian government, one who would be loyal to the idea of international diplomacy. At this, everyone had turned to face Lelouch, whose eyes went wide as he realized what they were all thinking. He outright refused to take on the job, stating Schneizel, Cornelia, Euphemia, even Clovis would be a better choice than him. But all his suggestions were shot down._

_Odysseus was supposed to be the one to succeed Charles, but he was far too indecisive and reserved for such an important position._

_Schneizel had beaten the European Union into the dust before they joined Zero, leaving a nasty taste in their mouth at the thought of giving him the throne. More recently, he had fought for Charles against the Black Knights, even being the one to order the bombardment of the Imperial Palace when it was seized by Black Knight shock troops. As far as the victors of the war were concerned, Prime Minister Schneizel was a sociopath and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a position of authority again in his life._

_Guinevere was vapid and cruel and wasn't even considered an option._

_Cornelia was a warrior first, politician last, believing with all her heart she would lead her country to ruin if she became empress._

_Euphemia wanted to have a normal life with Suzaku, or, as normal as she could get as a princess of Britannia courting the greatest knight in the realm._

_Clovis scoffed at the idea of becoming emperor, though he was theoretically the most qualified to do so. He had an incredible resume, (at least compared to everyone else), which included political experience as viceroy of Area 11,__ a lack of any major scandals to date and a high popularity among Britannians from his sparkling clean public image. Still, he laughed off the thought and proceeded to leave the conference room entirely to go chat up the technician girls at the Ikaruga's bridge._

_Nunnally was the only one left who Lelouch could turn to, but she wasn't going to budge either. Ever since they'd revealed themselves to the world and asked for Zero's protection, she'd been almost completely uninvolved with talks of politics and war. She could always tell though, the way Lelouch contributed to every meeting he attended, the way he would explain every little detail of the shifting politics to her with barely contained excitement, she could always tell this was what he was best at, what he really wanted to do._

_Lelouch continued to refuse though, mentioning that he'd abandoned his title as a prince. Cornelia simply replied that Charles had never acknowledged Lelouch's attempt to give up his rights of succession, so he was still technically in line for the throne. Lelouch spluttered with explanations and reasons, all the way up until Kallen cut him off, mid-excuse._

_"The world is in ruins, Lelouch. Zero..." she stopped at the mention of the masked hero. "Zero was the leader we all deserved, but not the one we need right now. Zero destroyed the world. We're asking you, Lelouch, to be the one to create a new one in its place." That stopped Lelouch right in his tracks. He frowned and took a deep breath before reluctantly saying only one word._

_"Fine."_

"... Are you even listening, Brother?"

"Huh, what?" Lelouch shook his head, noticing that Euphy was still here talking to him. He must have fallen back into his deep thoughts. "Oh, sorry, I just keep thinking about things."

Euphemia let a worried look onto her face, but shrugged it off.

"Well, we have to check in with Cornelia anyway. She doesn't like Suzaku and me to be alone together for too long. You know how overprotective she can be. I'll talk with you later, okay?"

Lelouch nodded sincerely in response. Euphemia and Suzaku left Lelouch alone again and he let his mind continue to wander. He spotted Ohgi and Villetta out of the corner of his eye, staring wistfully at each other away from the crowd.

'It's a good thing I got Jeremiah to rope that bitch into the Black Knights so early,' he thought disdainfully. 'She caused nothing but trouble for me in my last life.'

Indeed, he'd acquired Jeremiah's loyalty early on, almost before doing anything else. He had been Lelouch's right hand during his second journey through life as Zero. In the final battle, he had squared off against Bismarck Waldstein, the then Knight of One, and triumphed. For such a deed, Jeremiah could have asked to become the new Knight of One. But he did not. He requested to remain Lelouch's personal knight for as long as his body was strong and his mind was sound. For this, Lelouch granted him an official title, to be recognized throughout the empire. Jeremiah was named Knight of Orange, Knight of Honour to the Emperor of Britannia and protector of his family line. More than that, the position was to be hereditary, to be passed down the Gottwald family for generations. It was the single greatest honour the man had ever received.

Lelouch looked over and saw Tamaki making a fool of himself, not that he realized it. Lelouch smiled at the thought of his "best bud." Though he may not have been particularly effective at, well, anything really, he was still the most determined and courageous of the Black Knights. Zero had seen to it that the man received a promotion for his efforts. Though he got a new title, a badge to wear and an officer's cap however, being "Chief Knightsman" didn't really mean anything. Tamaki would still serve on the front lines, with the rank and file knightmare pilots, and he wouldn't have official command over anyone. But, therein lied the genius. To the men, Tamaki Shinichiro was a symbol of perseverance and improved morale everywhere he went. Though he would function essentially the same on the battlefield, it was his duty to maintain the moral integrity of the enlisted men, and keep their spirits up, in and out of combat. And if he learned of any kind of dissent brewing, he was to inform Zero immediately. As an unexpected bonus, he even got a spiffy new knightmare, built to be especially resistant to damage, given his track record. The frame's official designation was FIR-18. Tamaki called it "Faust."

Lelouch noticed Lloyd Asplund having a heated discussion with his engineering buddies from college, Cécile Croomy and Rakshata Chawla. Standing beside him, shaking her head, was Milly Ashford, still engaged to the mad scientist and apparently still planning on going through with marrying him. She saw that Lelouch was watching and waved wildly. Lelouch gave the slightest of nods and grinned from ear to ear.

"Um, Your Majesty?" a timid voice came from behind him.

Lelouch turned to see Rolo standing there with Nunnally in her wheelchair beside him. Nunnally's eyes were still shut, but Lelouch was certain she'd be able to see again soon.

_About a year after the Black Rebellion, Rolo suddenly appeared in the USJ. He was captured by C.C. attempting to infiltrate the Black Knights, her Code protecting her from the boy's Geass. Lelouch ordered him to be thrown in a jail cell and proceeded to question the agent himself. From what Rolo explained under the influence of the Black Prince's Geass, V.V. had sent him, without informing Charles, to assassinate Zero. It would have ended there, with Rolo rotting in a dungeon, but Lelouch had other plans. Better plans. By the prince's suggestion, Rolo began receiving a frequent guest to his cell. Nunnally would come in every day to try to cheer the boy up, and even to try to give him some semblance of family. After only a few visits, Rolo had already been knocked out of his previous violent bad habits. By the war's end, Lelouch had again interrogated him, reusing the old Geass command he'd implanted so long ago, and deemed him fit to be released into Nunnally's care._

"Rolo, how're you doing?" The new emperor probed of the boy lightly.

"Your Majesty, I, uh..." Rolo stammered in the face of his king. Nunnally took his hand in her own.

"We just wanted to say hello, right, Rolo?"

"Uh, yes, Milady. And also, thank you."

'Thank you?' Lelouch thought, unintentionally raising an eyebrow.

"Thank you for giving me a family, for giving me a future. I'm honoured by your leniency, Your Grace." Rolo managed to get out what he was trying to say and took to one knee before his sovereign. The action surprised him, but put a flattered smile on Lelouch's face.

"You're welcome, Rolo Lamperouge." Lelouch motioned for his former surrogate brother to rise. Rolo in response blushed and grinned awkwardly. Nunnally indicated she wanted to go get something to eat and they said their goodbyes.

Once they had left, Lelouch turned back around to continue on his way but immediately bumped into someone again, this time literally.

"Oh, hello, Your Highness!" Gino Weinberg, a former Knight of the Round Table, saluted the Black King playfully. "Great party you have here. Even Anya's having a good time. You probably don't know, but she used to be really mopey. Ever since King Chuck kicked the bucket she's been acting a lot more lively. I wonder why..."

Lelouch just barely managed to keep from smirking. Anya was feeling better because Marianne was no longer randomly possessing her body. He'd seen to that himself.

In his early days as emperor, Lelouch had arranged for a new position, the Knight of Zero, to be created. This knight would be of the finest quality, picked only from the Knights of the Round Table, and would serve in the Black Knights as a gesture of comradery between Britannia and the UFN as a whole. Gino had volunteered himself instantly for the position as soon as it was announced. Aside from the prestige to be associated with such a title, in his own words he intended to "meet babes from round the world."

"Oh, and by the way, I know everyone must want to talk with you, but have you spoken with Lady Kaguya, yet? I recommend you get it out of the way now, while you're in public. If she gets you alone, I wouldn't be surprised if she forced you into having an impromptu wedding night. And if she asks, you didn't hear it from me."

As if the mere mention of her name was enough to summon her, Kaguya bounded into Lelouch and Gino's field of vision. Gino gave the emperor a friendly pat on the shoulder and offered a quick "I have business to attend to somewhere else that's anywhere but here," before scurrying away from the Japanese loli.

"Lulu, my LOVE."

Lelouch sighed to himself. Having the chance to live through Zero's rebellion a second time, Lelouch was able to appreciate many of the aspects of life he was too harried to even notice at first. Kaguya was one of those aspects. There was no doubt in his mind that he had liked Kaguya in his first life. She was certainly fun to be around and wicked clever on top of that. She always knew just what to say in any situation, granted the vigour behind it was always jarring. Lelouch wasn't sure when, but sometime during this second life he'd realized being around Kaguya was still as tiring as it always was, but he would also feel less burdened afterward. Her goodness and cheer seemed to radiate from her, motivating Lelouch to do more, to be more. Now that the war was over, Lelouch was able to put more thought into Kaguya as a woman than as a politician, finally giving in to her after 9 years (including a seven year hiatus and only counting his second life) of marriage requests. HER request to marry HIM. For the public, they could justify the union as a political marriage between a major diplomat for the USJ and the Britannian Emperor. But between them, it was a bond based on mutual respect for one another.

_Shortly before the Black Rebellion, Kaguya Sumeragi joined the Black Knights in direct defiance of the rest of the Houses of Kyoto. She could see, she thought, what the old, arrogant former Japanese nobles could not. While they clung desperately to the dying Japan Liberation Front, the remnants of the official Japanese Army, who had been all but eradicated by Princess Cornelia's forces upon taking viceroyship of Area 11, Kaguya looked to a new rebel group. The Black Knights, led by Zero, were the sleekest, stealthiest and most stylish "army" fighting Britannia's unjust rule of Area 11. More than that, they were efficient and effective, qualities the JLF had apparently never considered important. As time went on, the Black Knights recruited new members at faster and greater levels than ever. Several of their number were even Britannians who defected for one reason or another, the most notable one among them being Prince Clovis himself. Deciding that she could do no good with the rest of Kyoto, Kaguya managed to set up a private meeting with the Black Knights, at which point she left her elderly companions behind and joined Zero, the man she knew could change the world._

_At first Kaguya couldn't do much but be a glorified cheerleader. The Black Knights had been declared terrorists by the Area 11 government and had no real opportunity, nor political weight, to conduct diplomacy with anyone. As such, Kaguya's greatest skills went largely unused. Zero assured her though, one day when Japan was freed from enemy occupation, her powers of persuasion would shine. She trusted in those words, believing in him with all her heart. She was going to be Zero's wife one day, after all! Once upon a time, she'd said Lelouch vi Britannia was the man for her. But when the war in 2010 came and went, Lelouch was nowhere to be found. He was just assumed dead. Zero embodied everything Lelouch had been for her though. He was cunning and charismatic, kind and just. Then Lelouch really DID turn up. Kaguya hardly knew what to do, as she considered herself engaged to both men. The Black Rebellion came shortly after Lelouch's miraculous return and Japan was reclaimed, bringing forth the day Zero promised to Kaguya. Though it was strained, diplomacy finally became an option for the newly christened USJ._

"Milady," Lelouch nodded to his betrothed gently as she ran up and threw her arms around his neck, forcing him to twirl with her before he could get her off. Lelouch would have said more, but he knew Kaguya too well. She could talk for the both of them.

"I was just talking to Naoto and Kallen, oh and C.C. too, and we got to thinking we should take a picture together, to remember today."

Lelouch again would have said something, but Kaguya began dragging him by the hand. In his past life, Lelouch may have been annoyed by this, but he'd gone through so much and gotten to know Kaguya so much better than before that he didn't mind. He was hardly paying attention anyway. He'd been distracted all day, his thoughts were still racing over the events that had led up to this.

Kaguya finally stopped pulling Lelouch when they arrived before Kallen and her brother Naoto, C.C. between the two, teasing them lightly about this and that. Lelouch looked at the three thoughtfully. C.C. held a whole box of pizza in her left hand, using her right to shove greasy slices into her mouth with reckless abandon. She was so much happier than she'd been when he first met her. She was even more pleasant now than she'd been upon meeting him again in this second life.

_Lelouch had gotten to Clovis before anything serious happened and managed to talk him into releasing the mysterious girl. The first thing Lelouch said when she met him for her first time was a request for her to use her Code and see his memories. She was surprised and defensive about him knowing such things at first, but eventually did as Lelouch asked. She was his accomplice, and, though he would never admit it, the closest thing to a mother Lelouch had had since his real mother, may her spirit rot in Hell, was murdered. He wanted, no, needed her up to speed on all that had happened between them before the Collective Unconscious turned back the pendulum._

"So you came," C.C. said mockingly, still chewing on a mouthful of her favourite food. "I knew Kaguya would have to drag you to get you to be in a picture, but I thought you'd be kicking and screaming the whole way."

"Ha ha, Witch," Lelouch replied sarcastically, though the smile on his face indicated he wasn't actually bothered. Naoto stole a piece of C.C.'s pizza from the box, to her horror, and took a bite.

"We were actually thinking of getting a big group pic after this one," he said, ignoring C.C.'s complaints about taking some of her food.

Lelouch looked between Naoto and Kallen, back and forth. He still wasn't sure what to think. Was this the right choice? Was this best for everyone? He looked at the beautiful red dress Kallen wore, at her blue eyes, flashing with joy at simply being here with almost everyone she loved. He stared at her smile directed at him and at the small but ornate silver ring he'd given to her, displayed prominently on her left ring finger. Then he looked at Naoto, at his black gloved hands, at the purple and gold suit he wore with a white cravat at the neck, a black, batlike cape hanging off his shoulders, and a spiked helmet tucked beneath one arm.

_The Siege of Pendragon was fought alongside dozens of other battles across the world. Because of the military buildup that both Britannia and the UFN had accrued, as soon as the declaration of war was sent by the Federation, the borders of the two countries were instantly turned into a no-man's land and armies fought furiously for almost no major gain of territory. Knowing this would happen, Zero and his officers put all their chips into a gamble. Zero took an army of the most elite members of the Black Knights, including almost all of the Black Knights senior officers from the USJ, the first members of the Black Knights, as well as all the Black Knight Royals, and besieged Britannia's capital. Zero himself led a knightmare vanguard and assaulted the Imperial Palace. With him was his ace pilot Kallen Kozuki-Stadtfeld and her brother Naoto, Princess Cornelia li Britannia and her knight Guilford, Lelouch's knight Jeremiah Gottwald, Lelouch and Euphemia's friend Suzaku Kururugi, and the mysterious woman C.C., with 13 other veteran pilots filling out the team. Their mission was to assassinate Emperor Charles zi Britannia and end the war before it could become a drawn-out slugfest, with both sides throwing soldiers and knightmares against each other without any hope of actually accomplishing anything._

_In the final approach toward the palace, Zero's forces were intercepted by several members of the Knights of the Round Table, led by Bismarck Waldstein. Zero's retinue was split in half as Jeremiah moved in to occupy Bismarck's attention and Suzaku was cut off by Gino Weinberg, Anya Alstreim, and Luciano Bradley. Zero himself would have been shot down by the Britannian elites if C.C. hadn't gotten in the way, taking the deadly shots herself and urging him to continue on without her just before her radio cut out._

_Zero and what was left of his team managed to reach the palace and get inside, quickly moving to eliminate all opposition and open the way for Black Knight shock troops to march in and start taking the palace over. What happened after that was largely unclear. Zero immediately left his knightmare behind and ran off, his retinue following behind in confusion. Then he was gone. No matter how hard they looked, they couldn't find him. It was as if he had escaped reality somehow._

_Shortly after Zero's disappearance, even while Britannian nobles and Charles' own wives and sons and daughters were still inside, the palace was suddenly rocked by explosions. Cornelia came to the conclusion that it couldn't be friendly attacks because their forces were briefed on this mission. The whole purpose of the siege was in support of the attack on the palace. No, someone had ordered a full-scale bombardment of the area to eliminate Zero once and for all, even at the expense of almost certainly killing Charles and his entire court. Without a moment's notice, Cornelia ordered all forces to evacuate from the palace while getting out as many civilians as possible._

_Kallen objected. Zero was still in there, somewhere, and would need his people with him when he made his escape. Cornelia was unmoved. In the end, Kallen and Naoto stayed behind, alone in a rapidly dying palace, waiting anxiously for Zero to return to them. Eventually, he did. He stumbled out of nowhere and fell to the ground amidst a rapidly expanding pool of his own blood. He'd been shot. Once in his gut, once through the palm of his right hand, and once in the back of his right leg._

_Kallen and Naoto didn't talk about what happened after that. They had flown out of the Imperial Palace together in Naoto's knightmare right before it gave out completely and collapsed. The radio in his frame sounded and they were asked if the mission was successful. They said yes. They were asked where Zero was. No answer. Then, meekly, in a somber whisper from Kallen:_

_"He didn't make it."_

_The battle came to a close as the news of Charles' death spread like wildfire, the Britannians surrendering in droves until Prime Minister Schneizel had to admit defeat, calling for a general surrender of all Britannian forces._

_The war was over, but Zero was dead. Not once before had the Black Knights been nearly as disheartened as they were by this revelation. There were efforts made to search through the wreckage of the Imperial Palace for Zero's body, but it never turned up. A small, unofficial funeral with an empty casket was held for the masked man with only the founding members of the Black Knights present. It was decided that Zero's legacy would go on. A new Zero would rise to take the place of the first._

Without realizing it, Lelouch had somehow been herded into position with Kallen and Kaguya latched onto each arm. C.C. stood slightly off from them with her box of pizza still in her hand and a slice on its way to her mouth, and the new Zero, face showing and helmet cradled beneath his arm, took up his place beside her. The photographer chosen to take a picture of these most important people, (except for C.C., who was still a mystery as far as anyone but Lelouch was concerned) was a professional. The Knight of Six, Anya Alstreim, brought out her phone and clicked the "OK" button, memorializing the moment forever.

"Sir Anya, how's it look?" asked Naoto as he went over to inspect the picture's quality. As expected the lighting was perfect, no one was caught blinking and the smiles on everyone's faces were genuine, though in Lelouch's case it was a tad bemused.

"Did you want me to take some more?" Anya said hopefully. The monotone she'd used for years was slowly receding, thankfully. Lelouch furrowed his brow at what she must have gone through in life. She didn't know, but he did. Marianne, his own mother, had been wearing Anya's body like a suit all this time, just to escape her own death. It had come as a blow, at first, to find out his mother wasn't as benevolent as he'd remembered her, but he'd come to terms with it. Now in his second life he could say with absolute certainty that she was as much a villain as his father and truly deserved her death.

"Of course!" Naoto ruffled his cape behind him, clearly practicing the movements he'd need to master to be the best Zero possible. "Let's get everyone together! We'll get a picture of the Black Knights attending the party, then some with the Britannian Royal Family, maybe a couple with UFN representatives, and how about..."

Naoto led Anya off to fetch more people for group photos, leaving Lelouch alone with Kallen, Kaguya and C.C.

"So, Lelouch..." Kallen started, uncharacteristically timid. Kaguya was about to interject but C.C. managed to draw her attention.

"I'm thirsty. Pizza's much better with something to drink. Come with me, Kaguya?" The greenette motioned with her head away from Kallen and Lelouch. The Japanese noblewoman got the message.

"Sure! I'm interested in trying Britannian wines. I'll have to know all about them if I intend to marry the Britannian Emperor." She looked over at Lelouch and gave a quick wave. "I'll be back when it's time to be in more pictures!" And with that she and C.C., pizza box still in hand, made their way to the refreshment corner where royal butlers, chefs and waiters would be able to help them with anything they needed.

Kallen looked deep into Lelouch's amethyst eyes, searching for something that wasn't there. There was nothing strange in those eyes, no shining pink and red, no birds about to take flight. They were just regular, (and dreamy) eyes.

"Can I see it again?" she said, not taking her eyes from Lelouch's. "Please? To remind myself that you're really here?"

_Zero shambled out of Charles' makeshift Thought Elevator and tumbled to the floor, thankful for the return to reality._

_"Zero...!" Kallen shouted and she and her brother rushed over to him. He'd been shot in several places._

_It had happened when he confronted his father on top of the Sword of Akasha, just as he had in his first life. This time however, the scenario played out more violently than it once did. This time Charles had resisted, tooth, nail and __**bullet**__, before Zero could stop the emperor's last-ditch hope of starting the Ragnarok Connection before his forces back in the real world were overrun. Charles was immortal, which really put a spanner in Zero's works, but still, the Man of Miracles prevailed, albeit incurring several wounds in the process._

_"Zero, we've gotta go, the whole place is coming apart!" Naoto had to shout to be heard over the crashing of explosions and the electrical fire that had just started nearby. "Kallen, help me with him!"_

_Kallen and Naoto tried picking Zero up by his arms so they could limp him over to Kallen's knightmare since he clearly wasn't up to piloting his own. As soon as they managed to get him up, he slipped from their arms and fell back down. The explosions from the bombardment were getting louder and closer now. The palace could only be so big. It was only a matter of time before whoever was bombing them managed a direct hit on their location._

_"I'mn, mmshehhhhh... Dunszjuspfff..." Zero muttered incoherently. He seemed to fight to get the next words out clearly. "Charles... He's dead... We win... Leave me..."_

_"No, Zero, NO!" Kallen shouted desperately._

_"It's too late for that..."_

_"No, Zero... Please... Don't go..." She looked at his wounds. "C'mon, we'll get you patched up and out of here in one piece." She frantically removed Zero's right glove so she could try to bandage his bullet wound. She didn't have actual bandages with her, so she tore off her headband and started wrapping it around the, somehow familiar, white skin of his hand, hoping futilely that she could stop him from bleeding out._

_Time seemed to stop then as thoughts and memories flooded Kallen's mind. They were so foreign to her, they clearly weren't her own. She saw herself through someone else's eyes. She saw events she was certain had never happened, like Euphemia ordering a massacre, like Tokyo being erased from existence in a bright flash of pink. Finally she saw herself facing him, both of them standing naked before each other in an empty white abyss. His eyes seemed to be on fire and he whispered to her._

_"Kallen, when this is over, will you then return with me to Ashford?"_

_Kallen drew back her hand from Zero's as if burned, and the visions stopped. She gasped for breath and realized her eyes were wide and beginning to water._

_"Zero... It was you? You were..." She fumbled with the words, still unsure of what had just happened. She threw herself on top of Zero as she let it all out. "No, I won't leave you! I'll stay with you, to the very end!"_

_Zero's breathing was ragged and deliberate by now, and he wheezed out a call to Naoto._

_"Naoto..." Zero rasped. It took everything he had to move his head and look the man straight in the face. Without warning, a hatch in Zero's mask opened, revealing fiercely shining red eyes._

_"__**Get Kallen to safety.**__"_

_Naoto was about to question Zero, was about to say ANYTHING, but the command Zero had given him pounded in the back of his head, over and over, louder and louder, drowning out everything, save the command. Without a word he leaned down and started tugging at Kallen, trying to unlatch her from their leader._

_"Naoto! What are you doing!?" she screamed, kicking and fighting her brother's grip. "We have to save him, we have to save-!" Naoto punched Kallen in the stomach and threw her over his shoulder, running at top speed to where they'd left their knightmares. Kallen looked back at Zero as tears streamed down her face. The wind had been knocked out of her, but she still tried to speak._

_"Lelouch..."_

_Laying in a growing puddle of red, Zero, Lelouch, watched the Kozuki-Stadtfeld siblings get into Naoto's knightmare frame and escape, leaving him alone. He took one last breath._

_"Kallen, you have to live..." Just then the palace's infrastructure finally gave out and the ceiling collapsed on top of him._

_By the time Naoto had snapped out of his stupour, he and Kallen had already gotten clear of the palace, which was now nothing more than a magnificent marble, silver and gold pile of rubble. Naoto couldn't seem to remember anything after Zero told them he'd killed Emperor Charles, but Kallen could. She knew now. She didn't know how, but she just did. Lelouch had been Zero all along. When they were together in the same place at the same time, it was always a stand-in for one or both of them. C.C. would sometimes play Zero and Lelouch's maid Sayoko would sometimes play the part of Lelouch. But they were really one and the same. But he was gone now. Lelouch, the real Lelouch, was dead, and so was Zero._

_Since meeting Zero, she could honestly say, she'd fallen head over heels in love with him. At first she'd thought of Lelouch as a nuisance. He didn't talk about it, but she'd assumed he was the son of a noble, or something, and he was as lazy as he was arrogant. When he and Nunnally revealed they were Britannian royals and joined the Black Knights, she began to see him in a different way. How he acted at school was a front, just like her sick-girl routine. He was so much more diligent and thoughtful than he appeared at school. She liked him, certainly, but she was in love with Zero, no hard feelings toward the seemingly aloof former school vice-president._

_It was slightly shocking, and infinitely upsetting, to see Lelouch again on the Black Knights Ikaruga flagship after the Britannian surrender. It wasn't him. She knew it wasn't. Sayoko had to keep pretending to be him. Because Zero was dead. And since Lelouch obviously wasn't Zero, it would be too suspicious for him to mysteriously disappear the moment the masked hero was gone. Days passed and Zero's body never turned up in the wreckage of the palace. Aboard the Ikaruga, Kallen sat alone in her quarters, just thinking. Thinking and thinking. Where should she begin? Perhaps with what she'd seen when she touched Lelouch's hand as she tried to bandage his wound? She had seen things and people that were not there, learned of history that never happened, knowledge poured into her in an unorganized cascade. Kallen was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she almost didn't notice the knock on her door._

_When she went to see her visitor, it was Lelouch. No, it was Sayoko, dressed as Lelouch, wearing a mask and using a voice changer to complete the illusion. Kallen lowered her head dejectedly._

_"Sayoko, you should to find a way to get out of being Lelouch. You know as well as I do that he's gone."_

_The person wearing Lelouch's face frowned sadly before moving in close and touching her cheek lightly. Kallen looked up in surprise and her heart began to pound as this Lelouch imposter pressed his lips against hers. Her thoughts raced and her face flushed as he slowly released her from his tender embrace. He looked back and forth behind him and was satisfied when he confirmed no one was around to witness this._

_"It's me," he said solemnly as he raised his right hand and turned his palm up for Kallen to see. Engraved onto his skin like a tattoo was the bright red image of a stylized bird in midflight. Kallen still didn't know how she knew, but she did. This was the real Lelouch. He was alive. He barely had time to say anything else before Kallen threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back, deeply, passionately. She had loved Zero. But Lelouch was Zero. Kallen was certain now. She knew she could honestly say that she was absolutely, positively in love with Prince Lelouch vi Britannia. _

Kallen and Lelouch came back to reality as they realized they'd both been staring into each other's eyes, thinking back to those moments of sorrow, of passion, of joy. Lelouch broke eye contact first, his sight wandering down to his right hand. He did as was requested, wordlessly removing the glove covering it and turning it over for Kallen to see, the mark there on his palm undeniable. It was still there: the mark of Geass, the symbol of his Code. It was the proof Kallen was looking for, proof that Lelouch was truly alive, and, she realized offhandedly, would continue to be alive forever.

"I'm glad, Lelouch," Kallen said quietly. "I'm glad you're alive. I'm glad I got to learn the truth and I'm glad I get to be with you-" she paused and rolled her eyes as her smile made its way back onto her face, "and Kaguya, apparently-for the rest of my life, even though you'll still be young long after I'm gone."

Lelouch closed his eyes and put his forehead against hers.

"It doesn't have to end that way," he said. "C.C. has a Code too, and she's looking to get rid of it. She says there are at least eight Thought Elevators in the world, too. There should be six corresponding Codes out there, somewhere, still unaccounted for."

Kallen pulled her head back from Lelouch's and he opened his eyes to see the reason for the sudden movement. Kallen looked stunned. She took a casual look over to where C.C. and Kaguya had gone to get drinks. They were coming back with a whole group of people, probably to be in that group picture Kaguya and Naoto had been so insistent on taking. Naoto was at the front, as Zero should always be. Closest to him was Gino and Anya. Suzaku and Euphemia walked together, as did Cornelia and Guilford, and Jeremiah and Sayoko. Ohgi and Villetta walked with them, begrudgingly listening as Tamaki recounted tale after tale of the funny traditions Britannians kept that he could totally get used to. Tohdoh and Chiba walked together in silence, though Senba, Asahina and Urabe knew they were happy just to be together. Diethard was joking with Darlton, Odysseus and Clovis as they too came to be in the group photo, to become a piece of history, as Diethard was proclaiming triumphantly. Xingke and Empress Tianzi were present as well, happily marveling at the world outside the Forbidden City. Lloyd, Cecile, Rakshata and Milly followed behind, Rolo vigilantly accompanying Nunnally as she spoke with the Ashford heir happily.

Since they'd been in Japan when it was annexed into the USJ, Shirley, Rivalz and Nina had gained temporary citizen status, allowing them to stay in the nation even though it was preparing for war with their home country. Now with the end of the conflict, they were having to choose whether to return to the homeland, or find some other arrangement to avoid having to move back across the Pacific, but that wasn't in their minds now. Emperor Lelouch had them specially flown in from the USJ to attend this party. Though they were uncomfortable being mere commoners in the presence of so many honoured guests and nobility, they were overjoyed that Lelouch hadn't forgotten the little people now that he was king.

Kallen took Lelouch's arm as she watched their friends, family, and some former enemies, come towards them, laughing and talking amongst themselves. She looked up at Lelouch for a moment before turning back to the horde of people, crowding together and trying to sort out who would be in which photos and when.

"So, Lelouch," Kallen said finally, a firm but warm tone to her voice. "If you really plan on getting me a Code, and maybe even some for a few lucky others, isn't there something you have to ask me first?"

Lelouch shook his head slightly in surprise before grinning more happily than he had in years. His arm was still hooked with Kallen's and he moved it down to take her hand in his. Without removing his eyes from the people they'd come to know and love, many of whom Lelouch was personally indebted to for giving him this second chance at life, he said the words that came to him instinctively.

"The Power of the King will condemn you to a life of solitude. Are you prepared for this?"

Kallen didn't look away either.

"I am."

This was truly a special day after all.


	2. Wearing the Mask: Scene 1

_ A dream of despair to see that future fair,_

* * *

><p><strong>Wearing the Mask<strong>

It was a dismal scene, that arena where people became animals thirsting for blood, constantly angling for supremacy in an endless turnover of attack and defend. Only the bullets were words and the knightmares were ambitions, clashing against the unforgiving fortifications of cold reality. Sometimes Naoto wished that he was back out in the field, fighting against a common enemy with the support of the people behind him and an invincible commander leading the way. Instead, he had to attend these daily, utterly _boring _UFN meetings. After all, Zero led the Black Knights, the fighting force drawn from member states, and dedicated to the service, of the United Federation of Nations. As Zero, it was his duty to be present during all UFN engagements.

This day should have been different though. King Lelouch vi Britannia, 99th ruler of the Holy Britannian Empire, was attending this UFN gathering personally, in addition to his usual representatives on his behalf. This day should have been different, but it wasn't. World peace, though strained and regularly brought under fire, had become a reality. Despite being forced to attend, there was really nothing for Zero to DO. Everything was settled in the political arena, leaving very little for him to comment on aside from the occasional border dispute. But even then the matter was resolved quickly enough. Naoto had stopped bothering to get involved not a week in to this daily 9 to 5 routine.

At the moment, Naoto was taking an afternoon nap, once again taking advantage of the mask that hid his closed eyes and drooling mouth from the politicians shouting at one another. He was snapped awake though as someone called out to him.

"... Isn't that right, Zero?"

Naoto's eyes flitted left to right, glancing anxiously at all the people waiting for his answer. His answer to what though? Just by looking around he couldn't see any clue as to what he was being asked about. Perhaps he should just say "yes?" That usually worked out for him. As it turned out, he didn't need to.

"Minister Vavier," Lelouch stood at the central podium of the UFN Chamber of International Affairs and addressed the man who had woken Naoto up. "Of all people, Zero would be the last to approve of military action in response to my mere request."

"Um..." Zero said quietly to himself, then boldly stood up from his seat and threw out his hand in front of him. "Indeed! We are all here for the sake of international community and peace," he balled his outstretched hand into a fist then flung it to the side, ruffling his cape majestically behind him. "If we cannot have a discussion without the threat of violence then we are no better than the monsters of our shared past of strife and destruction!"

There was a short round of applause and Zero sat back down, silently thanking Lelouch for getting him out of the political firing range. Minister Vavier was not satisfied however.

"I'm not looking to provoke a war, only stating the facts. What Emperor Lelouch asks is absurd!" The diplomat's face was twitching in irritation, making his pointed moustache move in bizarre ways Naoto hadn't thought possible. If he were to be asked for his honest opinion, the new Zero thought this guy was taking his job way too seriously. "France will not agree to it. And without our vote I can guarantee the rest of the European Union will vote against it as well!"

What was this even about again? Oh right! Lelouch was asking Europe to return the British Isles to Britannia. No wonder a whole third of the room was giving the king a dirty look. Not that Lelouch appeared perturbed in any way. He nodded gently to Vavier and flashed a light smile.

"There's no need to raise your voice. Why don't you simply hear out the rest of my proposal...?"

NNNNNNNNN


	3. Wearing the Mask: Scene 2

**Wearing the Mask: Scene 2**

The day was wasted as far as Naoto was concerned. Oh yes, he could see the importance of this meeting, and every other one for that matter, it's just that he wished he could have been doing something else. He would have rather spent that time reading a book in the sunshine, or hiking, or playing baseball, or anything else, really. Hell, if he even just got to have a longer lunch break every day to watch some anime or something he would stop grumbling to himself all the time. Naoto Kozuki-Stadtfeld was a man of action! The constant meandering of politics, though not so complex as to mystify him, was simply too drawn out and restricted for him to want to be personally involved.

But involved he was, so it was his duty when the meeting ended to go and shake hands and exchange pleasantries for what seemed an eternity on top of the one he'd just endured.

"You should try to get more sleep."

Naoto turned to look behind him to find the familiar face of Emperor Lelouch smirking lightheartedly. Naoto raised an eyebrow, though he realized the act was hidden behind his mask.

"How could you tell?" Naoto addressed the young king informally, like an old friend.

"Your posture is lax and instead of being draped in shadow, today it looked as though you were huddling in your cape like it was a blanket."

Lelouch's smirk rose into a warm grin and the two men shared a brief laugh together. One was regal and mirthful while the other was cold and metallic. Naoto sometimes hated the mask that stole away his cheerful demeanor, but at least he still had a life outside of being Zero where he could be himself. And his true identity was hardly a secret among the world's leaders and the officers under him in the Black Knights, so he did have that. Sometimes he would wonder about the first Zero and how lonely it must have been to live and die without ever sharing his great secret.

"When did you get so good at reading people?" It was phrased like an honest question, but belied a joke only a nobleman might find, hidden between the lines. The life of a noble was one filled with plots and intrigue, and it depended on always being aware of the minutest detail. Posed to an emperor, who would have to be more vigilant than anyone in his kingdom, it would be the height of ironic humour. As predicted, Lelouch let out another laugh, louder and fuller than before.

"Seriously though, what do you do all night? It's not like you're the leader of a global peacekeeping force or anything."

Naoto couldn't help but look away in embarrassment. Whenever he got the chance to leave the Black Knights HQ at Horai Island and be himself for a while, he'd make a trip back to Tokyo and see his mom, then just wander the city. He went to musical performances, bars, and anything else he could find to do until he went back to base for an hour's rest before starting the next day.

When the luxury of going out to the city wasn't available, he'd invite various Black Knight officers to his suite just to hang out. The members of the original Shinjuku Resistance, all of whom minus Ohgi, who'd become the first Prime Minister of the USJ, had stayed on with the Black Knights as career soldiers and were Naoto's most frequent guests. Minami, Yoshida, Sugiyama and Inoue would drop by most the time, and there was the occasional visit from Tohdoh or one of the Four Holy Swords. Tamaki would come every time he was invited even if he had other plans, and sometimes when he wasn't even invited in the first place.

Then there were nights Naoto would spend alone browsing the internet and watching anime. There was no shame in this, he knew, but he was still embarrassed to talk about it.

"I do things..." Naoto said sheepishly, letting out a nervous giggle, though again his mask made his words sound ominous. He looked back at Lelouch, determined to change the subject. "What about you? Asking for the British Isles back from Europe? How many nights did _you _spend without sleep to come up with that idea?"

Lelouch's eyebrows flared excitedly.

"I think it's a good idea. For the first time ever we're in a position to calmly discuss territory disputes rather than force the issue with war. You know as well as I do the Britannian people have held a violent grudge against the EU ever since Napoleon conquered those silly islands. If we can get the Motherland back through diplomatic means, think how much easier it will be to keep the spirit of peace strong."

"That sounds nice and all, but what did you plan on giving in return?"

"I had some ideas and that's why I'll be attending tomorrow's meeting as well to continue negotiations."

Naoto shook his head and chuckled to himself.

"Just so long as you don't get too pushy, Lelouch. I don't know what I would do if a war started over this." He wanted to appear carefree, but even with the mask distorting his voice he knew he sounded hesitant.

Lelouch suddenly became serious. His eyes tensed and he peered intently at Naoto's mask. It seemed to him almost like the Black King could see through its reflective surface and straight into his soul. After a few uncomfortable moments Lelouch broke the silence with a sigh.

"You were the first person to believe in Zero. It's only right to think he believed in you too. He made you his deputy commander after all. If a war started because of my request, which, so long as I live, it won't, then I'm certain you would be able to make the choice only Zero can face: the right choice."

Naoto nodded thoughtfully before giving a sigh of his own.

"You sound old, Lelouch," he started, only half-joking this time. The certainty in his voice was starting to falter though, even with the systems in his mask altering it, making it sound cool and composed. "Really, if a war started, I don't know what I would do. It was easy before, just being Deputy Commander. Zero planned things out, I just made sure they happened according to his parameters. And what about now? All I have to do is attend meetings, give speeches and keep things organized in the Black Knights. If things took a turn for the worse it's not like I would stand around and do nothing, but sometimes I think I might not be able to handle things like the last Zero did. If it came down to it, I don't think anyone could."

Lelouch furrowed his brow and lowered his head as if in deep thought. After a moment, he raised his sight and smiled reassuringly. He raised his right hand and regarded it for a moment, then held it out. Naoto looked down at the king's white-gloved hand, then back up to his face and the beatific smile that adorned it. He reached out and took it in his own, glove meeting glove. Instantly, Naoto felt a shock run through his body and his eyes briefly hazed over with pink. Suddenly he felt incredibly sleepy and his mind seemed to fall into disorderly whispers. He only vaguely heard Lelouch utter a last line of encouragement before passing out.

"You don't have to be the strongest, or the smartest person to be Zero. You need only stand for that which is just. If the first Zero were here right now, I know he would be proud to have you succeed him..."

NNNNNNNNN


	4. Wearing the Mask: Scene 3

**Wearing the Mask: Scene 3**

_Words in the void; spoken from a mouthless being. Jupiter hanging silently, effortlessly, held by invisible threads._

_"__**I know a time beyond place; a space beyond the veil of eternity. I will show it to you so you can show yourself your own worth.**__"_

Naoto woke with a start. He was wearing his favourite pajama bottoms, (black, with a repeating red cloud design) and nothing else. He blinked a few times. He was in his room back at the Black Knights HQ. For the life of him he couldn't remember coming back here, and he certainly didn't remember going to bed. He sat up slowly, thinking about the strange dream he'd had. What had the disembodied dream voice said again?

'You'll show me something... that will allow me to show myself... my own worth?' Naoto thought to himself.

The redhead stood up abruptly and ran over to his computer desk in the corner. He opened one of the drawers and pulled out a pad of sticky notes and a pen. Taking the pen hurriedly in his left hand, he scrawled down the words he'd heard in his dream.

"ZERO!"

Naoto turned his head to look at the door. Someone was pounding on it like he was trying to break it down. Was that Tamaki? He looked over at the clock by his bed. It was only 8:00am. What was Tamaki doing up so early? Didn't he usually sleep in during the mornings pretending he didn't have stupidly idealistic new recruits to drill?

"Zero, get up! GET UP, GODDAMMIT, GET UP!"

There was panic his voice.

Naoto dropped his pen and ran to the door, undoing the various locks and seals securing his privacy. When every latch and chain had been unfastened Naoto threw the door open, reached out and pulled Tamaki in before slamming the door closed behind them.

Tamaki was in full military dress, he was even wearing his officer's cap. The look on his face was dire.

"Naoto, turn on the news."

Without a second to question his friend, Naoto bounded back to his computer and shoved his thumb against the startup button with more force than he should have. Less than 10 seconds later the three massive screens for his computer came to life showing his usual setup: a map of the world on the left showing the weather around the globe and notes to himself, his personal desktop in the middle, and the command structure of the Black Knights with updates submitted by other officers on the right, flashing as dozens of new submissions poured in, lettered in red. Tamaki pushed in front of Naoto and turned on a specific news broadcast before stepping back and watching Naoto's reaction.

_"... list of casualties is still being withheld, but we repeat, Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia was confirmed dead as the result of one of several attacks early this morning, the only one perpetrated on foreign soil. __Currently, there are no suspects, but it is assumed that this was a European-supported plot to undermine the reintegration of the British Isles into the Britannian Empire. Oh-what was that? We now go live to Pendragon where Prime Minister Clovis is making a statement."_

The screen flashed to reveal Clovis standing in front of a crowd of reporters as microphones were shoved in his face and camera flashes went off incessantly. The look on his face was no less than utterly horrified. He opened his mouth as if to say something, froze in his tracks, then turned on his heel and walked away.

Tamaki went back to the computer and typed something in, bringing up a different news channel. This particular report was on a speech from the Britannian Royal Press Secretary.

_"... they died in service to our king, just as you would expect from the Knights of the Round Table. Information is being heavily guarded at the moment, but I can tell you actions are being taken by all available persons to preserve the royal family's safety. They have already gone into hiding indefinitely with several key members of His Late Majesty's Court and won't make any appearances until we can sort this out. At this time we cannot foresee..."_

Naoto's mind flashed through the words he was hearing as sweat began to roll down his brow. Naoto Kozuki-Stadtfeld was the son of Duke Patrick Stadtfeld. He was nobility, he'd been raised to see through deception, especially from other nobles, and right now the bullshit sensors in his head were screaming. True, he couldn't see the whole web of lies, but he knew it was there, and so far it was looking worse than imaginable.

"Every one of them is already dead," Naoto whispered, and Tamaki turned off the broadcast. This couldn't be happening. No way. This... This couldn't be real, could it? Naoto felt a slight prickling in his head, like the beginnings of a headache.

They stood there like that for a few moments, Naoto staring at the blank desktop on his computer screen and Tamaki silently watching him with wide eyes. A look of horror was on his face mimicking the one Clovis had worn during his "statement."

"Naoto," Tamaki started, his voice starting to crack. "News travels fast, bro. Tohdoh and the others are trying to keep people calm, but the men are scared. They're not listening to us, they're gearing up for a fight! We don't know who and we don't know why, but everyone is sure we're about to be at war with _someone _real soon. Zero, what do we do?"

NNNNNNNNN


	5. Wearing the Mask: Scene 4

**Wearing the Mask: Scene 4**

All around the Black Knights HQ soldiers were scurrying in a wordless frenzy, rushing to get back to their barracks and put on their uniforms, to get back to their posts, to doublecheck their knightmares, anything to make themselves feel prepared when everyone knew they weren't.

Zero, the leader of the Knights, one who always exuded an aura of calm and certainty, sprinted through the training grounds, pushing black-clad recruits aside and jumping over energy fillers and ammunition piles that had been hastily pulled from storage. Beside him was Knightsman Tamaki, barely keeping up with the masked blur.

The command center was a mess. Of all the areas of the building, the central room, Strategic Command, was the most disorganized. The room was a chorus of anxious discussion and busy people flying in and out the door. Quartermaster General Minami was barking orders every which way to get things back under control, but they went largely unheard over the rushing of interns carrying papers and technicians frantically giving status reports on the chaos around the base. Beside him, Knightmare General Tohdoh was gritting his teeth and clenching his fists trying to remain focused, but even the newbies could tell he was upset. Lelouch had been a friend while he served in the Black Knights and had even participated in several battles, knowing full well as a prince he didn't have to fight. Now he was dead. All the senior commanders shared some level of sorrow at his assassination.

In a flurry, Zero bounded through the door, Tamaki following behind, wheezing in exhaustion. Zero turned his helmet back and forth, surveying the scene in front of him.

"Everyone STOP!" He didn't shout. The mic on Zero's helmet had been turned up and his mere words caused everyone to halt in their tracks and stare in his direction. Zero turned his mic back down and ignored the countless eyes glued to him, instead searching the room for a particular face. There he was, the man he was looking for, Gino Weinberg, the Knight of Zero, standing in a corner trying to stay out of the way.

"Gino, suit up," the masked leader held his arms out and shoved his way through the throngs of people clogging up the room. "I'm going to today's UFN meeting in the Gabriel and Zero Squad 1st Detachment's coming with me."

Gino smiled weakly at the order and rushed from the command center. A small measure of relief came to the room as people saw Zero was assuming direct control. Tohdoh tensed, but spoke out with the icy calm of a veteran soldier.

"No one has declared war yet. Everyone is on edge, and going to the UFN Embassey in full military formation is only going to fan the flames."

His words were sound. Of course they were. Everything Tohdoh said was backed up with years of hard experience. Naoto didn't care.

"You may not have realized, but Lelouch is DEAD," Zero raised his voice ever so slightly in anger. "Britannian culture is vengeful, and the death of a king, even one considered to be a usurper, is more than enough reason for the administration to seize power and do something stupid. War hasn't been declared, yet the Black Knights are mobilizing without their officers telling them to? They're afraid. They're afraid Lelouch's death is going to spark something in the Empire and it's not hard to see why. All Britannians need is someone to point their finger at and then there'll be no way to change their minds. We need to assert ourselves now more than ever to keep things from escalating."

With that, Zero walked up to a technician girl seated at a computer terminal and looked down at her, his mask making the action appear menacing.

"Bring up the information for Zero Squad 1st Detachment. I want their knightmares to have resupply priority."

The girl quaked with fear in the presence of her masked leader. She turned back to her computer and typed in some commands. She turned back to Zero.

"Um... U-uh, Zero, Sir, well..." she stammered, her reaction to Zero making it readily apparent she was very new to the Black Knights. Zero didn't have time for this. He reached out and pushed the tech's rolling chair, with her in it, a full meter out of the way and leaned over her computer. On the screen was a textbox, flashing in red, asking for Executive Authorization. Grunting in frustration, Zero punched a series of keys and was rewarded as the screen began cycling through pictures of knightmares with rapidly flashing lines of information.

_**XXXXXXXX - LOADING...**_

_**FIR-05 Gabriel Mk-III**_  
><em><strong>Pilot: Zero<strong>_  
><em><strong>Status: Awaiting Pilot<strong>_

_**Type-02 Guren Mk-II**_  
><em><strong>Pilot: Kallen Kozuki-Stadtfeld<strong>_  
><em><strong>Status: NA**_

_**RZA-3F9 **__**Raphael**_  
><em><strong>Pilot: Gino Wienberg<strong>_  
><em><strong>Status: Ready for Deployment<strong>_

_**IFX-V301/FIR-02 **__**Michael**_  
><em><strong>Pilots: Ohgi KanameVilletta Nu**_  
><em><strong>Status: PILOTS UNAVAILABLE<strong>_

_**FIR-09 Uriel**_  
><em><strong>Pilot: Masashi Kuroda<strong>_  
><em><strong>Status: Ready for Deployment<strong>_

_**FIR-10 Sachiel**_  
><em><strong>Pilot: Jos<strong>__**é Evans**_  
><em><strong>Status: Awaiting Refuel<strong>_

_**FIR-11 Ambriel**_  
><em><strong>Pilot: Mitchell Perry<strong>_  
><em><strong>Status: Ready for Deployment<strong>_

_**FIR-12 Kushiel**_  
><em><strong>Pilot: NA**_  
><em><strong>Status: PILOT UNAVAILABLE<strong>_

_**FIR-13 Samael**_  
><em><strong>Pilot: NA**_  
><em><strong>Status: PILOT UNAVAILABLE<strong>_

_**FIR-14 Azrael**_  
><em><strong>Pilot: NA**_  
><em><strong>Status: PILOT UNAVAILABLE<strong>_

Zero took a hard look at the list of Zero Squad 1st Detachment members. Of who he had available, it looked like they were already prepped to head out. Gino must have anticipated his decision and given the order before Zero even arrived at the command center. Good.

Since the end of the war against Emperor Charles, many of the Black Knights, especially the overworked members of Zero Squad, had either retired or returned to their native country's military, leaving open positions everywhere that had to be filled quickly. Doing so was still proving to be difficult though, as could be seen with the 3 unassigned knightmares on the list. Masashi had just been moved up from Zero Squad 3rd Detachment a couple weeks ago, along with José and Mitchell, who had been in 5th and 6th Detachments, respectively. José Evans and Mitchell Perry were Britannians who had served under Cornelia and stayed loyal to her when she defected to Zero. When the war ended, they'd been among the few who stayed on with the Black Knights even when most their comrades returned to Britannian service.

'So Zero Squad 1st Detachment only has half its members including me at the moment,' Zero thought to himself disappointedly. 'Whatever. Too late to do anything about it now.'

And what was this? The Michael, (the Gawain had been heavily retooled and renamed after the Black Rebellion) still didn't have replacement pilots!? And Kallen, what was she still doing on this list? She went to study back in Britannia so she could be closer to Lelouch, and the Guren was destroyed along with the Imperial Palace back during the Siege of Pendragon. Everybody, and that included himself too, Zero realized, sure had been lazy in the past couple months since the UFN made peace with the Empire.

A pang of distress shot through Naoto's heart as he remembered what he'd heard on the news. Kallen and Lelouch hadn't married yet, she wanted to finish school first, but Naoto had no doubt she would still be targeted as part of the royal family, that is, if she wasn't already dead anyway. Things were simply happening too quickly. Lelouch and some others die, and the rest of his family besides Clovis go into hiding "indefinitely" mere hours later? No, it was too fast. It was far more likely these assassinations were an internal affair. The Britannian nobility feared and hated Lelouch and the commoners were still resentful of their loss to the Black Knights during the last war. With Lelouch's proposal for the return of Britain, anyone with the guts to arrange his death could pass this all off as the work of anti-Britannian terrorists backed by the European Union.

But if this was a plot to remove Lelouch and his supporters, then why would Clovis not be either in hiding or dead himself? Could he have done this? No, impossible. He had been given the chance to take the throne right after the war ended and he refused point blank. It would be too much work with too much risk to usurp the thone now. Besides, ever since Lelouch revealed he and his sister were still alive Clovis was always backing him up and covering for him. There was no way that was all an act. Then what? There still wasn't enough information. The media hadn't even been allowed to post the full casualty list yet.

"It's time for me to go."

Zero clutched the edge of his cape and drew it around him as he walked purposefully to the only door, en route toward the hangars. He stopped as he saw Tamaki still standing there, looking at him worriedly. Zero didn't even turn his head as he stepped past the man, whispering so only he could hear.

"Prep the Faust and bring the men up to speed. If I get to that meeting and I'm too late to stop the shit from hitting the fan, I want you on the front lines ASAP, wherever that may be."

Tamaki visibly gulped, then stood rigidly at attention, placing his hand to his head in a salute. Zero stalked off in silence.

NNNNNNNNN


	6. Wearing the Mask: Scene 5

**Wearing the Mask: Scene 5**

Penglai, Shandong was a place without nationality, given over as the capital of the United Federation of Nations, the only place it directly controlled in the world. There were only 5 member states that pledged allegiance to the UFN: the United States of Japan, the Chinese Federation, the European Union, the Holy Britannian Empire and Australia. The first three had worked together to form the political union, Britannia was entered by Lelouch, and seeing everyone else working together, Australia finally decided it was safe to resume global politics without fear of being conquered. Each member state had more than one representative though, particularly in the case of the 3 superpowers that dominated the daily discussions. The system had been set up so the EU and the Chinese Federation had at least one representative for each sovereign state within their greater unions, while Britannia did the same for all the provinces that made up the Empire, giving a voice to as many sections of the world's population as possible. Politicians for each of the "Big 3" would often band together in favour of their supernation's interests, though it wasn't uncommon for there to be infighting over which course of action actually was in their best interest. So far, things had worked well enough. Now, with Lelouch's death, it seemed cooperation hadn't been going as well as everyone thought.

Zero Squad 1st Detachment didn't have much to say to each other as they flew from their HQ on Horai Island in tight formation, their knightmares glistening in the various paintjobs of black, gold, silver, red and blue. At their front was Zero in his Gabriel, the fifth knightmare of the FIR series, the designation given to collaborative projects between Rakshata Chawla, Lloyd Asplund and Cécile Croomy. Grudgingly, at first, they worked together after the Black Rebellion to build up the Black Knights arsenal in preparation for the war against Emperor Charles. FIR-01 had been a complete failure. FIR-02 had been the remodeling of the Gawain, which had yielded considerably more results. FIR-03 and FIR-04 tried to copy aspects of the newly christened FIR-02 Michael, but didn't make it past the design phase due to massive cost estimations. FIR-05 had been their first stunning success, and from then on they began churning out new designs and producing effective new custom models at beyond record speed, enjoying every moment of it.

The Gabriel had been heavily damaged twice during various skirmishes leading up to the Siege of Pendragon. As such, this particular knightmare was the heir to extensive repairs and modifications. It currently boasted a larger than average, but not bulky, frame, sporting reinforced metal plates across its chest, thighs and shins, upper arms, and particularly impressive pauldrons. The armour plating protecting the extremities was stylized, appearing to sweep back like the wings of an angel, and two long armour-encased antenna followed suit, sprouting from the sides of the head and pointing up and away from the frame's "face." Altogether, Naoto's knightmare was a pitch black tribute to medieval knights with its gold painted trim and additonal armour plates, and chilling blue eyepieces.

Very few Black Knights actually knew what kind of weaponry the Gabriel carried, aside from the obvious. Most prominent was its wicked silver claw, based off the Guren's radiant wave surger, attached as a left arm. The only difference between the two was this one was slightly thicker in every respect and longer to fit the larger frame. Its right arm looked a little more conventional, though it was no less deadly. Its hand bore 5 slash harkens for fingers and integrated into the bottom of the forearm was a machine gun emplacement. The top of the forearm featured an odd-looking bulge that acted as a sheath for a thick, retractable hidden sword. When in use, the blade would slide into place and protrude from the top of the wrist menacingly. No knightmare was complete without conventional slash harkens and Naoto's had four, 2 on each side of the abdomen and 2 on the hips. Last was the only completely unseen weapon widely known about, hidden spikes, almost a meter in length, had been built into the heel of each metal boot. The notoriety attached to these seemingly useless and gimmicky weapons had actually come from Jeremiah Gottwald, who had used one to defeat Sir Bismarck during the Siege of Pendragon, puncturing the older knight's cockpit and killing him instantly.

Inside the Gabriel, Naoto went unmasked, setting it to the side so he could put it back on when they arrived at Penglai. The equipment he kept in his custom KMF was pretty standard: a first aid kit, a machine gun with an extra clip, and a survival kit including food and water, a flare gun, a blanket- the usual things. What was unusual in the cockpit was a gold-trimmed sheath housing a finely made sword. Painted violet and encrusted with jewels, the weapon was the only item left from the first Zero. Lelouch had been the one to find the ceremonial weapon in Zero's quarters after the victory in Pendragon. The then-prince had given it to Naoto, saying it should be passed on along with the costume and the title. Naoto liked having it around. To him, it was almost as much of a badge of office as the mask.

With a slow breath, Naoto brought up a hand and ran it through his hair, trying to psych himself up. What he was in for at the UFN Chamber of International Affairs would no doubt be among the most unpleasant discussions he'd ever witnessed. He was still certain though that it couldn't be the worst. Years ago, he'd watched his dad explain, quite unhappily, to his mother that they had to get a divorce so he could marry a harpie of a woman right after, all to keep his parents happy. Naoto shuddered at the incredibly awkward memory. Ehhhhh, _politics_. Moments like those were precisely why Naoto hated politics.

NNNNNNNNN


	7. Wearing the Mask: Scene 6

**Wearing the Mask: Scene 6**

It was 10:46AM when Zero dramatically pushed open the double doors to the UFN Chamber of International Affairs, accompanied by his knight, Gino Weinberg. The first thing that greeted their eyes as they walked in was a conspicuous surplus of empty seats. The entire area reserved for Britannian representatives was completely empty. Seeing as Penglai afforded accomodation to the full-time politicians in the UFN, the only reason none of the Britannians showed up this day could be because they just plain weren't there. As it turned out, they hopped a flight out as soon as the news of their Emperor's death hit. Since the assassination had taken place the night before, they had ample time to get clear away from the island before the meeting started in the morning, long before anyone could notice they'd left. It seemed Zero's attempt to intimidate the Brits by coming with members of Zero Squad had been for nothing.

Zero noticed offhandedly that the Australians hadn't shown up either. That morning, as soon as they heard about Lelouch's assassination and saw the Britannian diplomats had gone, they took one look at each and declared they were leaving as well. They could see the way things were headed and wanted no part in it. Again. Australia walked out on the UFN so they could firmly reburrow their heads in the sand. It was the logical and safe choice, and nobody could fault them. They had no stake in the conflict everyone seemed to believe was imminent, so they couldn't be blamed for not wanting to be involved. Zero was still a little irritated about their decision though, as he walked in and took his seat, motioning for Gino to stand beside him.

Unexpectedly, but not suprisingly now that Zero saw more than a third of the room wasn't in attentance, barely anyone seemed to notice his incredible lateness nor his showy entrance. They were all too busy listening to a frantic Gilles Vavier to even think about Zero.

"We've already said, we had nothing to do with this!" The French Minister of Foreign Diplomacy was looking back and forth between the USJ and Chinese representatives, trying to find a sympathetic face. They weren't buying it. Behind him, the other European ministers were whispering to each other nervously, realizing the Japanese, and the Chinese member states weren't going to believe them.

"Minister Vavier, do you really expect us to believe you?" Zero didn't recognize the Chinese Federation woman who responded smugly, going through her argument against Vavier's denial with a smirk. "Only yesterday you were threatening violence against Britannia. Lelouch was staying at the Britannian Embassey in Vladivostok so he could come back for negotiations today. Europe and Britannia hate each other and Russia is part of your union. The EU had the motive and the opportunity. It's obvious to everyone your leaders arranged for the building to be bombed last night. Just admit it."

It was a cutting accusation. It was logical. Everything she said lined up just right. Still, Zero wasn't on board. What about Britannia's motive? If the EU had been behind Lelouch's assassination, what about the "other attacks" that were conducted simultaneously on the Britannian mainland? How could the EU have pulled that off? And what about the misleading statements made by the Royal Press Secretary?

"All I said was that such a large request as annexing Britain back into Britannia would be grounds for some fools in our countries to start saber rattling!" Vavier was offended, and rightfully so, Zero concluded. He hadn't been listening the day before, but he remembered the incident in question from the point after he woke up. If that's truly what the Frenchman had said, even if his people had been behind the attacks, such words were hardly enough to incriminate him.

With such a long lineup of premises, Vavier had a hard time defending against the Chinese accusations, so now it was time for him to go on the offensive to compensate. It was a dismal scene today in the arena.

"Have you seen what the Britannians are putting in their news!? They've blamed this tragedy completely on the Union. They're slanting everything against us! I attempted to contact our Britannian friends who walked out on us no less than 3 times before joining this discussion and they did not answer once! We would have been willing to work with the Britannian investigators to bring the true culprits to justice, but they're refusing to communicate! We of the European Union are convinced they intend to retaliate against us!"

If Vavier was lying and his people were behind the attacks that had gotten the Black Knights so jumpy, then he was the best liar Zero had ever seen. He looked almost like he was about to break down in tears he was so terrified of facing Britannia's wrath once more. This only confirmed Zero's previous assumption that the attacks had been an inside job. The likelihood of Britannia going to war over this was looking more and more to him like the only possible result. That Chinese Federation politician from before merely sneered back at the French minister.

"Yes, so what?" She looked at her cronies sitting around her before continuing, saying the unthinkable. "Even if they do attack you, we of the Chinese Federation won't vote for the Black Knights to protect you."

The EU ambassadors gasped and let fly some choice words in their native languages. Zero's face behind the mask was aghast and he felt his entire body begin to shake in righteous fury. Before another comment was uttered Zero stood up and pointed at the Chinese Federates.

"You BASTARDS!" he shouted. Gino tapped Zero a couple times on the shoulder to try and get his attention. He was starting to feel uncomfortable with all the suddenly upset stares they were receiving. Zero was having none of that though.

"What's the _bloody _point of having the Black Knights if we aren't even going to protect member states of the UFN!?"

Horrifyingly, the person to respond to Zero's rage was one of the Japanese ministers.

"If the EU did in fact willfully kill members of the Britannian Royal Family and their subordinates, then they have no right to claim protection from the UFN. The USJ will stand with China's decision."

Zero was seething. He wanted to run over and beat every one of those old, mentally defficient windbags to death with his bare hands. He knew he had to make one last attempt at communication before resorting to that, though. Through clenched teeth Zero ground out that last attempt.

"We don't know for certain they did it. Do the leaders of your countries know this is your decision? Get Tianzi! Get Ohgi! Tell them Zero calls upon them! They'll agree with me!"

Another member from China with a heavy accent responded this time.

"They don't know and it wouldn't matter anyway. The _UFN _controls the Black Knights, not the member states themselves. You can't do anything unless we vote in favour of it."

"Not even a year ago Britannia brought the EU to its knees! It would be just as easy for them to do it again! Do you even care if Europe burns!?"

"Better them than us."

That was it. He was done. There were no words that could do justice to the feelings of anger he suddenly felt towards these people. Zero's head slumped and his body relaxed, though his breathing was heavy and slow. Quietly, though still audible to those present in the room, he began speaking the first words that came to mind.

"You don't care. Are you too conceited? Or too ignorant? If Britannia attacks the EU, you would refuse them the military aid they're owed as a member state of the UFN? Because you _think _they did something wrong and refuse to hear them out? You worked just fine with them before, when Charles was in control of Japan and practically had all of Europe in his grasp. But now suddenly it's okay to just leave them on their own? Because they deserve it? My predecessor gave everything he had to make people come together, and this is how you honour his memory? You would use the rules that _he _helped establish in the first place to abandon the EU!? You'd sell out your comrades like that!?"

The Chinese and Japanese politicians looked bored by Zero's speech. The EU representatives simply appeared confused as to how they should feel about this outburst on their behalf, and were looking back and forth at each other indecisively. Gino was still clearly uncomfortable, but had thrown on his serious face. Zero wasn't done yet, though. Now he remembered. He remembered why he had become a rebel in the first place. He remembered Zero's first appearance almost 4 years ago, the one that had saved his life. Suddenly it felt like something had clicked inside of him. For the first time, Naoto felt that he truly understood the meaning of Zero.

"Is it always right to stick to the rules? What if the rules are wrong? And what if you broke those unjust rules to fight against evil? You would still be considered evil youself."

Zero stood up straightly and turned for the door, motioning for Gino to follow.

NNNNNNNNN


	8. Wearing the Mask: Scene 7

**Wearing the Mask: Scene 7**

Just like their trip to the UFN capital, Zero Squad 1st Detachment was silent on their unexpectedly sudden trip home. Masashi, José and Mitchell had barely waited 10 minutes outside their knightmares before Zero and Gino had stormed out of the UFN main building, informing the trio they no longer had business in Penglai.

Despite the silence over the comms, Naoto was fuming in the Gabriel, muttering to himself angrily, allowing sudden shouts to punctuate his private rant.

"Apathetic tossers!" Naoto said, clenching a fist in frustration. The mere thought of those damn politicians made his blood boil. "They don't care about the truth. They don't care about finding out who's actually to blame. They only care about themselves. War between Britannia and Europe doesn't bother them because it's not their problem!"

Naoto let out a deep breath and thought back to his final words to the assembled ministers and diplomats.

'Is it always right to stick to the rules? What if the rules are wrong?'

The rules set down in the first drafting of the UFN Charter couldn't be wrong, could they? No, that wasn't it. The people interpretting the rules were the wrong ones. They did fine solving the world's issues when they were just minor problems, but now in the wake of a major political killing they didn't want to get involved!? How could anyone just go along with this? Who other than the most naive, delusional, or evil people could willingly follow such an unjust policy?

A jolt of pain shot through Naoto's head, and for a moment images flashed across his vision of a ruined city district at night. It looked like Tokyo. He saw Burai KMFs fighting against the Lancelot and brief mirages of Suzaku Kururugi in the pilot seat, filled with hate.

But wait, that didn't make sense. Jeremiah Gottwald had always been the Lancelot's pilot, all the way up until he trashed it in his fight against Bismarck. Since then he'd commissioned a custom knightmare that had nothing to do with the "White Death". He said orange was more his colour anyway. Suzaku had only become the Lancelot pilot recently, after the development of the Albion.

The visions stopped as quickly as they had appeared, though the headache remained. Naoto blinked a few times and shook his head. That was certainly strange. He focused his mind and remembered what he'd been thinking about before.

"So, what if the rules are wrong?" the redhead pondered to himself quietly, now feeling a lot calmer. "If the people in charge are wrong, then I'll break their rules and do the right thing anyway. People can think whatever they want about me. I'll accept the label of evil if that's what it takes for me to strike down an even greater evil."

Again Naoto's vision blurred and a scene played out in front of his eyes. His friends were restrained before a firing squad of Sutherlands and Gloucesters as Japanese civilians watched on in sorrow. Naoto saw that he wasn't among them. There was a Command Burai too, bearing a knightmare shield with "POLICE" emblazoned across its surface. The black frame's speakers came to life and the voice that came out was so incredibly familiar.

_"What do you do when there is an evil you cannot defeat by just means?"_

The world twisted before Naoto again and for a brief second he felt like he wasn't in his knightmare's cockpit at all, but somewhere else. He blinked. Once. Twice. There was a small Britannian passenger jet in front of him now, and it felt like he was being carried, his arms draped across two people's shoulders.

_"...was a good idea?" _Naoto thought he heard a man's voice.

_"All tasks at hand have been cleared..." _There was another man's voice. Naoto's eyelids felt so incredibly heavy. It wouldn't matter if he just closed his eyes again for a second, right? It was just too hard to stay awake...

Naoto opened his eyes and he was back in the Gabriel like nothing had happened. He blinked a couple more times in dull surprise. It had barely been a day since this political shitstorm started and he was already losing his mind to the stress? That was great. Just great. Maybe he just needed some conversation?

"Gino," Zero called his knight on his radio. "You know the situation. The Black Knights may have to fight Britannia again. Can I count on you?"

After officially joining the Black Knights as the Knight of Zero, Gino got to keep his Tristan, but it had to be renamed and repainted to show his new loyalty. Gino palmed the controls of the Raphael nervously. He'd sworn on his honour to fight for Emperor Charles and had done so with gusto, even when he wasn't so sure the man had his head screwed on properly. For that reason he was not looked upon favourably by the other Black Knights. Of course Zero would question his loyalty. Yet, after admitting defeat to Suzaku during that final battle when he, Anya, and Luciano fought him in the skies of Pendragon, (Gino would still swear it was all Luciano's fault they lost, that poor dead bastard), he'd sworn his service to his new sovereign, Lelouch, and from there sworn it to Zero. He'd been a man of honour throughout that whole ordeal. He couldn't let now be any different.

"I'm with you, Zero-" he said, and, after taking a deep breath, "-til my term of service is up, and I leave with a smile, or my time is up and I leave in a bodybag. Right, José? Mitchell?"

The comms from the Sachiel and Ambriel switched on and the two Britannians among Gino's wingmen uttered their affirmation.

"Yes, My Lord!"

Naoto shuddered at the formal response. All his life he'd been surrounded by Britannian culture. He'd been raised from infancy with the expection that he'd one day take over his father's Britannian noble title, (which, Naoto figured, he still would someday, after his father died and he'd chosen a successor to the name of Zero). By this point in life, he should have been used to the expression. But no matter how hard he tried to think otherwise, it just sounded creepy to him.

"Right. Um... Good." Naoto replied awkwardly. Okay, so maybe conversation wasn't what he needed to clear his head after all. Flying back to HQ in totally uncomfortable silence was probably for the best anyway, right?

NNNNNNNNN


	9. Wearing the Mask: Scene 8

**Wearing the Mask: Scene 8**

When Zero and his team arrived back at their base on Horai, they were greeted by a crowd of soldiers and officers in black and silver uniforms, waiting desperately to know what had happened at the UFN meeting. Zero landed the Gabriel in the middle of the main courtyard and stepped out to look upon the faces of his troops. They watched him breathlessly, not a word passing between them. There were scared. Zero thought they were right to be.

"The Holy Britannian Empire has left the UFN," he declared, earning gasps and moans of worry in response. "We sit in a position unenviable. We totter on the edge of yet another war, but there is nothing we can do now. We can only wait and hope that the death of Emperor Lelouch does not push the world back into violence. As of now the Black Knights are on full standby alert. Until I say otherwise we are going to prepare for the worst. Do your jobs quickly and be ready to deploy at a moment's notice. That is all."

There were distressed murmurs and hushed conversations for a brief few seconds before they noticed Zero was still standing there, staring at them. Quickly, the knights scattered to resume their duties. It was kind of unnerving to Naoto how the costume and mask could do that to people, but right now he wasn't complaining. He started walking toward the barracks and his private suite located shortly beyond it.

Behind him, Gino was unmounting from his own knightmare, with his wingmen doing the same. They all watched Zero as he made straight for his room. It was obvious he wasn't feeling well, either because of the day's events or because of something else. Either way, he'd left the Gabriel just sitting in the courtyard when it should have been parked snugly in its space in the Zero Squad hangar. There was really no helping it, though, was there? Gino figured it wouldn't hurt for Zero to leave his frame out for just a little bit. The masked leader could always take care of it tomorrow.

Back in his room, Naoto took off his helmet and cape and fastened the locks on his door. He sighed deeply and let himself fall against his bed. That headache he'd gotten earlier still hadn't gone away. He grunted as he shifted himself into a sitting position. Sleep would probably take care of that pain in his head just fine. But he wasn't feeling tired yet. The day was still young after all. He realized he hadn't eaten anything for a while. In fact, he didn't remember the last time he ate anything, let alone a meal. He decided maybe he should go grab something from the mess hall before sitting down at his computer and just relaxing for a bit. But then on second thought...

Naoto stood up and walked over to his computer, still on from earlier that day when he and Tamaki had watched the news. He plopped down into his fancy leather chair and opened an internet window, going straight to his favourites, clicking on the second one down on the list.

**onlineotaku4less**  
><strong><em>your guide to the everything of anime... for less!<em>**  
><em><strong>online anime - online manga - order anime online- fanart - fanfiction - downloads<strong>_

Naoto scrolled down the homepage mindlessly, not really sure if he actually felt like watching anything at the moment. He felt awful, both physically and mentally. He just wanted to stop for a moment and not have to think. Indulging in this hobby of his was good for that.

Something caught his eye. There was an article giving updates on the new hit show back in the USJ, a sequel, (or was it a prequel?) to another anime that had come out a while back. The article said the show was expected to break record viewership and merchandise sales in Britannia. There was a picture of one of the characters and Naoto recognized her by her blonde hair done up in a bun, her blue clothing, and her platemail armour. The redhead scoffed.

"I bet the real King Arthur could kick her ass."

Naoto sat back in his chair, letting his arms hang limp beside him and his head lull back so he was staring at the ceiling, a melancholy expression taking shape across his face. The morning's events swirled in his head, no matter how hard he tried to focus on something else. In only a single day the UFN had more or less fallen apart and it seemed everyone was angry at each other. It was just like he said. People were going to do what they wanted and there was nothing he could do to stop it. All anyone could do was just sit on their hands and wait for the inevitable.

NNNNNNNNN


	10. Wearing the Mask: Scene 9

**Wearing the Mask: Scene 9**

_Jupiter..._

_From the blackness he can only see eyes that shine like pink fire, staring into him. A hand reaches out to grab him._

_Jupiter..._

_There's a symbol branded there on its palm, red and sharp, glowing with an unknowable power._

_Jupiter..._

Naoto woke from his rest slowly, rolling from his back to his side and burying his head in his pillow. Red hair, matted with sweat, framed his face and stuck out in disorganized clumps. Another unpleasant, trippy dream. He wondered idly if it meant anything. No, probably not.

After Naoto got up for the day, after doing a quick series of pushups then dozing in the shower, after combing out his tangled hair and getting dressed in the purple fineries of Zero, he took a look at the news again. It had been about 2 days since Emperor Lelouch was assassinated in Vladivostok, (the differences with time-zones confused things for everyone involved), and now news stations were posting a revised list of the dead.

Sir Jeremiah Gottwald, Sir Suzaku Kururugi, Sir Anya Alstreim, and a host of bodyguards and diplomats had died with Lelouch when the Britannian Embassey they were staying at was bombed. Princess Nunnally and her bodyguard Rolo Lamperouge had died in an explosion in Anchorage, where the young Princess was vacationing, away from the gawking stares and excited shouts of Britannian commoners wanting to meet Her Highness. Princesses Cornelia and Euphemia died in yet another bombing at Prince Schneizel's estate, where they'd been visiting their elder brother. Ever since his surrender during the UFN-Britannian Punitive War, the prince had been under house arrest, and, as if to add insult to injury, hadn't survived the attack either.

Naoto couldn't help but wince as the news report went on to detail the actions Britannia was taking against "the treacherous adders" of the EU. The Empire had parked warships outside France and Spain and had begun invading. In a press conference about such an act of war, the Royal Press Secretary stated the Empire was merely responding to what was clearly an act of war from Europe. A classic "they started it" response. Further questioning from the press got the secretary to reveal Prime Minister Clovis had gone into hiding with the rest of his family and a regency council was now acting as Head of State in Lelouch's place.

So that was it then. Britannia and the EU were at war again. And the Black Knights weren't allowed to come and break it up. To hell with that.

Zero called for all Black Knights to assemble in the courtyard so he could deliver a speech. Again, the masked hero stood by his knightmare, right where he left it the day before, and looked out at his forces and the various expressions on their faces. It didn't matter that Zero had beaten Britannia before. On the individual level, the Black Knights were terrified for their own lives. The image of the invincible empire was still strong, and most the knights were still green, the veterans having left as soon as the last war had come to a close. If he had to be honest, Zero would have to admit they were a little lacking in numbers, too.

"Black Knights," Zero called upon his troops, throwing an arm out to the side. "Britannia has declared war on the EU, just as we have feared. The death of Emperor Lelouch, and his brothers and sisters has hit the world hard. They were more than simply royalty, more than just allies against tyranny. They were people, and not just any people at that. They were people we could truly call friends."

For a moment Zero felt almost like he was going to tear up behind his mask, but he pushed on, his sorrow being consumed by an inner flame of anger.

"But this is _not _how Britannia should react to their deaths! Even if the EU was behind the assassinations, there is no reason, no justification, no excuse to declare war. Investigations could be conducted, discussions could be held! Why even have the UFN if we aren't going to use it to solve our international disputes?!"

There was a murmur of agreement in the crowd and some shouts of outrage toward Britannia.

"Britannia has refused to go through the proper channels, designed to keep peace and to promote cooperation. They have attacked the EU in force, making our duty clear. It is with a heart filled of compassion for our friends in the Union and sadness for Britannia's choice of action, that I declare, here and now, we of the Black Knights will travel forth and fight with all we have to defend our brethren against Britannia's unlawful attack!"

There were scattered cheers from members of the crowd before Zero. His friends from Shinjuku and most of the remaining veteran Knights were raising their fists to the air and whooping in support of Zero. Knightmare General Tohdoh stepped forward, the smallest of smiles on his normally stoic face.

"If we must make war upon Britannia again, then so be it," he said. The soldiers around him grew quiet in deference to the seasoned warrior. "Zero, you must have already spoken with the UFN members about this. What expeditionary forces have they pledged to bolster our numbers?"

Zero stood impassive.

_"Ohgi, did you see the news?" Naoto sat at his computer desk in his room, his phone out, held tightly to his ear._

_"I did," his friend replied somberly. "This really has become a mess, hasn't it?"_

_"Ohgi, the EU doesn't have enough votes from the Chinese Federation and the USJ to authorize me to help. The UFN isn't going to deploy the Black Knights!"_

_There was a pause on the phone. Finally, the Japanese Prime Minister responded._

_"Yeah, I'd heard about that. It can't be helped though, I suppose."_

_"I'm going anyway."_

_There was another pause. This one was longer than before. This wasn't a good sign. Naoto didn't like it one bit. He didn't wait for his friend to reply this time._

_"Ohgi, I haven't told my officers that we don't have UFN support yet. We don't have many Knights right now, not nearly what we had against Charles. Tianzi says she can't help, and you know how the Australians are. It would go a long way to have some allies, even if in name only. It'd make the troops more confident about doing this. Can you send some Japanese units to meet up with us?"_

_The silence on the other end continued. Then, finally, came the inevitable answer._

_"Naoto, look, the USJ doesn't have enough of a military to send anything overseas right now. We're still just getting things sorted out over here. Even if we did, the UFN hasn't given its approval for you to get involved. I can't be seen working with Zero if he isn't following the rules."_

_"Ohgi, wha- but- I..." Naoto was flabbergasted. His friend was turning on him? Leaving him high and dry? For the sake of his reputation?_

_"Naoto, I'm not looking for forgiveness. I mean, we're friends, aren't we?"_

_Naoto hung up. His blood was boiling. It was the same. Again and again. Once people felt secure in their positions of power, everyone else could go right ahead and die. They didn't want to be bothered to help other people, it would be too much of an imposition. Naoto balled a fist and slammed it against the desk in front of him._

_"Yes... That's your answer... Isn't it?"_

Zero stood, unmoving, wrapped in his cape, looking out over the troops assembled before him.

"I've already confirmed the EU's request for our intervention and strategized with their military leaders." Zero didn't answer Tohdoh's question. "We of the Black Knights are going to fly our forces north on our carriers into Russia before proceeding west through Europe en route to support the defense of the Atlantic Coast."

There was a quiet raising of eyebrows as Zero spoke. He made no mention of Japanese and Chinese reinforcements. Tohdoh tried again. This time, his smile was gone.

"Zero, what reinforcements can we expect from the UFN? And why are we going through Russia when it would be faster to travel through the Chinese Federation?"

The assembled crowd was silent, and suddenly a current of apprehension surged through them all. After several tense moments, Zero raised his head slightly and spoke firmly, resolutely, implying he would tolerate no dissent.

"The UFN has not voted in favour of sending the Black Knights to Europe." There was a gasp from several of the Black Knight officers. "The decision to support the EU was made unilaterally. I say that we shall stand with the EU against Britannian aggression, so we will. If you have a problem with it, then I suggest you speak up now."

Instantly, Chiba Nagisa pushed her way through to stand by Tohdoh and pointed her finger angrily at Zero.

"You're going behind the UFN's back!?" she shouted accusingly. "All to help those damn foppish Britannian wannabes!?"

Her comment garnered some approval from the newer Japanese recruits, but loud outbursts of indignation came from the European and even some Britannian members of the Order. Before anyone could start a fight over the race issue however, Zero raised a hand for quiet and quickly pressed on.

"The EU and its territories is a member state of the UFN and it is our duty to protect them, whether we are sanctioned to fight on their behalf or not."

Some of the soldiers began whispering to each other that the new Zero was mad. In quick response, Knightsman Tamaki began quietly organizing teams to arrest those who spoke out against Zero and throw them in the stockades. If she noticed all this going on behind her, Chiba didn't seem to care.

"Has your brain overheated in that tin can you wear all the time? The EU killed off members of the Britannian Royal Family! They invited this situation! It sounds to me like the other UFN members realized that and are letting them feel the consequences of their actions."

"Such an action was monstrous!" Zero unfurled his cape and threw out both arms behind him. He was shouting now, his booming synthesized voice cowing most of the Knights muttering seditious comments. "And whoever is responsible for it is themself a monster! But nobody knows who _is _responsible. The UFN is unwilling to investigate! Even if the Union was at fault, it would be our job to arrest the ones who orchestrated the assassinations and bring them to a UFN court, not leave their countries and peoples to be ravaged in a vengeful war!"

Tohdoh's face grew stony and he started nodding his head in understanding, realizing already where Zero was going with this. Chiba wasn't done though, she knew she had one last chance to call Zero out.

"You can't just make decisions for us on your own, you damn half-Brit! The Black Knights are sworn to fight for the UFN, not you!"

"The Black Knights are sworn to fight for JUSTICE!" Zero almost screamed his words in anger. Suddenly he had everyone's attention. He looked out upon the soldiers all claiming to be Black Knights in disgust. "Britannia has declared war on a whole union of countries spanning 2 entire continents and half a third! For the crimes of only a few? A few whose identities we don't even KNOW!? We are the Black Knights! We stand with all those who need our help, whether anyone else approves of our actions or not! We all swore to take up our swords for the sake of what's right and fight for justice! What justice is there in a war that will consume innocent people who had nothing to do with murders thousands of miles away? I ask you, is THAT justice!?"

There was silence in the crowd. Tohdoh closed his eyes in thought before walking all the way up to Zero. The Black Knights watched breathlessly as the two most famous leaders of their Order stared at each other, one into the eyes of a gristled old veteran, the other into the unforgiving reflective surface of a mask. Tohdoh took a step back from Zero, not taking his eyes from the man, and then bowed low before him. Eventually, he stood back up and turned to face the black and silver uniformed waves of people before him.

"Zero's words strike true," he said, his voice as gravelly and even as always. "They strike truer now perhaps than ever before. We were alone when our forces repelled the Britannians from Japan during the Black Rebellion, and despite our victory we didn't stop there. We were on our own against all Britannia and China when we helped overthrow the corrupt High Eunuchs, yet we didn't stop the fight then! We brought allies to our side and continued fighting all the way until Emperor Charles was dead and peace was brought to this world. The EU has asked for us to join them in defense of their nations. If we turn our back on them, then we forsake all that we've done up until now."

There was a solemn quiet in the courtyard as the Knights considered Tohdoh's words. Someone shouted, his words carrying and being heard by everyone present.

"But we aren't going to have support from the UFN!"

More silence, then another shout from someone else this time, then another, and another.

"We can't fight Britannia on our own!"

"It's suicide!"

"There's no way!"

The whole area became ablaze with fearful shouts and complaints. Quartermaster General Minami walked up to join Zero and Tohdoh, looking out over their knights like a parent over a disobedient child. The shouting died down a little. Then Urabe of the Four Holy Swords stepped up to stand with them, then Captain Sugiyama of Zero Squad 2nd Detachment; more and more officers pushed their way up to the front of the crowd to stand with Zero on his decision and slowly the shouting dwindled into oblivion.

Far from Zero in the center of the courtyard, Knightsman Tamaki smiled triumphantly and slowly raised a fist to the air, piercing the silence with the beginnings of a chant.

"Zero! Zero! Zero...!

Behind him, the guards he'd assembled too raised their fists and joined the cry. Soon everyone was pumping their fists and shouting their support in unison, their fears assuaged by their officers believing in the masked hero.

"ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO...!"

Zero, still standing in front of the Gabriel and in front of the many officers who supported him, even including Chiba, though grudgingly, raised his arms up high.

"We of the Black Knights will fight for justice, even if there are those who do not wish to see justice done! The UFN won't give support in our defense of the EU? Then we shall fight and win with the Union without their support! Black Knights! Move out!"

"**ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO...!**"

NNNNNNNNN


	11. Wearing the Mask: Scene 10

**Wearing the Mask: Scene 10**

Early reports from Europe indicated the invading Britannians were focusing much of their efforts taking the French and Spanish cities of Bordeaux and Bilbao, hoping to secure the coast between them to launch further assaults into Iberia and France. The invasions had started at roughly 3:00PM, and after a 5 hour slog through enemy terrain, the Britannians forced their way to the city limits of Bilbao and cut into it eagerly. The Spanish army, whose divisions were quickly becoming disorganized messes of knightmares and riflemen, cobbled together from the survivors of the initial Britannian beach-landing, held the city for 6 hours before being overrun. Reinforcements from Portugal, Italy, and Morocco arrived about an hour later in a synchronized attack that would have been quite splendid if not for the fact that the Brits had now turned the anti-air turrets in the area to their service. Though there were few casualties from the defensive fire of turret and knightmare rifle, the attack lost all momentum as Spain's allies had to land and attempt to force their way back into the occupied city by foot.

The situation in France was not terribly bright, but was certainly not as disastrous as the Defense of Spain. Through the tenacity of the French troops, delaying the enemy at every turn, and by the grace of hundreds of anti-air batteries littered across the countryside, confining Britannian KMFs to the ground, the invaders were barely able to make progress at all. However, Britannians were nothing if not persistent, and more than any other factor, they had numbers on their side: More knightmares, more infantry, more supplies. The French army may have been able to punish the Brits for every meter they took, but it didn't change the fact that they were slowly losing ground. Though the Spaniards were unable to hold until a relief force arrived, the French were singularly determined to last as long as they had to, for they had an ace yet to play: The reinforcements they were expecting included Zero and his unbeatable Black Knights.

The Black Knights had a vast amount of area to traverse to get to the fighting, so they wasted as little time as possible in loading their personnel and equipment onto their airships and moving out. The troops were mostly in good spirits after Zero's declaration of their involvement in this war, but a quick tally of their numbers was enough to worry their leaders. The Black Knights still directly maintained 8 knightmare carriers, not including the Ikaruga, but didn't have enough people or KMFs to make full use of their 35, (50 in the Ikaruga's case) knightmare carrying capacity. Quartermaster General Minami only counted 209 knightmares available and assigned to pilots. As for the infantry, there was just over a single 1000-man battalion's worth of soldiers who could actually be expected to perform under pressure. On the command deck of the Ikaruga, Zero and his officers decided the short peace they'd won against Charles had drained their fighting capabilities to a critical level.

Even underpowered as they were, the Black Knights flew at top speed to get to the warzone quickly, and meet the Britannians head on. Cheers followed them all along the way as the people of the EU looked up to the sky to see the black, silver and gold of their airships, reassured to know Zero could be counted on to fight with them. As they made their way across the endless plains and hills of The Old World, the Black Knights were joined by Polish and German forces on their way to Paris, to divide up and support the defense against various smaller incursions along the Atlantic Coast. Info from the front was rushed and infrequent, but it seemed the Britannians had finally made it to Bordeaux, were moving into the city, and making a real mess of the place. Combat, they said, was still being kept mostly on the ground, though brief aerial battles cropped up every once and a while between knightmares on scouting missions.

Almost 12 hours after leaving Horai Island at 9:22AM, the Black Knights arrived in Bordeaux at 1:09PM and the city looked like it had taken a beating. The Britannians had shelled the place hard before sending in their new mass-produced Vincent Terrier knightmares and their infantry to support them. Now, after 22 hours of near consistent fighting, from the coast to the city, it looked like the French defense was failing, and the city was as good as taken.

"Attention Britannians!" Every comm and radio within 10km suddenly picked up a foreign message from an unknown, unencrypted channel. "You shall have one chance to leave this land immediately without worry of pursuit. I, Zero, give you that promise!"

Every head in Bordeaux instantly turned up to the grey, overcast sky as they realized what was coming. To the northeast a fleet of German carriers flew, ready to rain Panzer-Hummeln, Wespen, and Hornissen down upon their foe. To the direct east was a rather surprisingly small fleet of 8 black knightmare carriers with the Ikaruga airship in the lead. The flagship's main loading hatch opened, revealing a shadow and two chilling blue lights.

_**Initializing... Welcome, ZERO**_

_**-XXXXXXXXXX-**_

_**FIR-05 GABRIEL **_  
><em><strong>"And Flights of Angels Sing Thee To Thy Rest"<strong>_

_**-XXXXXXXXXX-**_

_**NOW LAUNCHING...**_

The shadow shot out from the Ikaruga's open loading bay, its Air Glide System lighting up briefly with blood red, before stabilizing in the air. It was Zero. The leader of the Black Knights had come.

"I say again," Zero's message continued, broadcasting everywhere that could pick up his signal. "If you leave now, we will not pursue."

As if in reply, a dozen rounds shot up at the Gabriel from Britannian knightmare rifles. Zero raised his frame's left arm and thumbed a button on his control yoke. Without delay, the arm's claw burst to life as a nuclear pulse from its palm vaporized the bullets heading his way before they made impact.

"I see." Zero lowered the Gabriel's arm as the loading bay doors and launch tubes of the German and Black Knight carriers opened. "If you will not leave in peace, then we will have to remind you what happened the last time Britannia crossed the Black Knights."

NNNNNNNNN


	12. Wearing the Mask: Scene 11

**Wearing the Mask: Scene 11**

Zero shot down toward the ground to meet his enemies knightmare to knightmare. The Britannian Vincents opened fire at the hero's black and gold frame with their rifles but it had little effect against the Gabriel's Radiant Wave Surger. With a single push of a button, Zero melted their bullets before they ever reached him. Finally making it to ground level, he hefted the control yoke in his cockpit with a snarl and pushed the button again with his thumb. In front of him, a purple Vincent was snatched up in the Gabriel's left-handed grip and was turned to slag. A warning light flared on Zero's HUD and without turning his knightmare's gaze he brought up the frame's right arm. Another Vincent had been charging him from the side with a lance but was torn to shreds under a volley from the Gabriel's wrist-mounted machinegun.

Behind Zero, knightmares poured from the Black Knight airships to join him.

On the northern flank, Tohdoh and the Four Holy Swords flew out of their carrier in haste, barely sparing a glance at the Britannians now abandoning their positions on the ground to challenge them. Their mission was a simple one, coming from Zero shortly before they arrived within Bordeaux's city limits. There was a building deep into the city where a group of French infantry and some Type-03 Alexanders were pinned down by enemy fire. The plan was for their fire team to infiltrate the enemy lines and get the beleaguered defenders to safety. Tohdoh, in his shining black Zangetsu, and his elite retinue, in their grey Akatsuki-Bokashi frames, cut through their enemies rising to face them before speeding onward toward their objective.

On the southern flank, Knightsman Tamaki brought a squadron of Akatsuki down to provide close air support for the French troops still in the fight. At the front of their formation, the Faust gleamed menacingly.

Knightmare Frame FIR-18 "Faust" was black, the same as most knightmares in the Order, with a pattern of 2 red streaks painted across each thigh. Additional red lines were painted along the torso in the shape of the Black Knights insignia, framing a device in the center. Finally, 4 red marks were painted across the Faust's faceplate, framing the glowing red eyepieces with two halves of a "T" shape. The area that could best be described as the forehead had 2 armoured antenna sprouting there in the shape of demonic horns. Likewise, the Faust's boots were formed into large mechanical talons. For armament, Tamaki's knightmare had a heavy machinegun built into each forearm and a slash harken on each hip. In its hands, the Faust carried a large rifle with a thick, reinforced barrel. This was what Lloyd Asplund had called "The Purgation Cannon" when he adapted the tech from the Diffusion Structure Phase Transition Cannon, (or more commonly called "The Zero Beam) for handheld use.

With Tamaki at the front, the team fell upon the Britannians in a whirling formation of machinegun and revolving blade sword. The Faust landed on a Vincent foot first, making an awful screeching sound as his knightmare's talons tore into the purple metal of the enemy. The barrel of his cannon began to light up as short, blindingly fast bursts of purple laser shot from it, piercing through everything it hit. Shrapnel flew everywhere as the Britannian and Black Knight knightmares destroyed each other and exploded spectacularly. A shot from an enemy frame made its way toward Tamaki but bounced to the ground as a red light flashed around the Faust, keeping him from a swift defeat.

"Heheh," Tamaki laughed quietly to himself inside his custom KMF. "Not this time, asshole."

Tamaki had been one of the founding members of the Black Knights, and had been piloting knightmares for about as long. Ever since then, through no fault of his own, his knightmare had been consistently destroyed during every fight he was a part of. Sometimes it was a stray round, sometimes a slash harken, sometimes just a kick to the head from an enemy frame. Whatever the cause, Tamaki was always defeated and forced to eject. Rakshata and Lloyd had taken this fact into consideration when designing the Faust, their 18th creation together. Going off the work Lloyd had done for the Lancelot's shields, the two scientists, and Cécile Croomy, who was beginning to lose her temper at dealing with the more obsessive engineers, started with a Z-01 template and built Blaze Luminous systems into each shoulder and shin, and a single one into the chestplate. With a little bit of tweaking, they managed to rig the devices to constantly output a weaker, but more energy-efficient, energy shield over the entire front of the knightmare except for the head and the arms. With this, they hoped to cure Tamaki's rash of bad luck on the battlefield. So far, it had proven highly successful.

"Yeah, GET SOME!" Tamaki pulled the trigger on his Purgation Cannon and another flurry of purple beams shot out, taking out two more enemy knightmares in quick succession. "See! It's not my fault I kept getting beat when everyone else had a better frame! Now that I've got one it seems like the situation's a bit more even, hey?!"

Up above the main fighting, the other carriers from the German and Black Knight forces were launching their own knightmares and preparing to land and deploy their infantry. At the front of the Black Knights carrier formation, the Ikaruga was launching the most potent group of fighters in the whole of the Order. Zero Squad had been intended to have 10 detachments of 10 members each. The ambition had been that each detachment could act as an entire squadron of ace pilots, able to counter any threat all by themselves and force open enemy lines for the rest of their army to exploit. At the moment however, only Zero Squad 2nd Detachment under Captain Sugiyama had its ranks filled, though at the cost of draining what remained of 3rd through 10th Detachments. As Zero had previously noted, 1st Detachment was down to half strength with only 5 knightmares. Only he and Gino were really even supposed to be part of the team. The other three were only handed unused custom knightmares and moved up to 1st Detachment to fill in rapidly expanding gaps from combat deaths and then retirements.

That was not to say they weren't skilled in their own way. José and Mitchell had been knightmare pilots under Cornelia for years and were among the best formally trained soldiers currently in the Black Knights. Masashi had joined the Order after Zero's grand debut but had proven lackluster as a pilot until the Black Rebellion. During that epic struggle, he had shown a knack for close combat after picking up a lance from a fallen Gloucester and using it for the remainder of the battle. They may not have been on the level of the Knights of the Round Table, as Zero Squad members were intended to be, but they were far from inexperienced.

Gino transformed his Raphael into foretress mode and streaked out of the Ikaruga. José in the Sachiel, Mitchell in the Ambriel, Mashashi in the Uriel, and all of Zero Squad 2nd Detachment followed behind. They moved with all due speed to catch up to their leader who was shredding through enemy units by himself like a man possessed.

A warning popped up on Gino's main screen as enemies Zero had overlooked in his rampage opened fire on him. He swerved out of the way, then swerved again. Red marks lit up on his monitor as the Raphael managed to pinpoint the locations of the opposing KMFs. They were all around, their formation loose to take full advantage of every firing angle.

"I'm going on ahead!" Gino shouted into his comm, dodging another hail of armour piercing rounds and flying over his attackers, then dodging again. "Get them off my back!"

Gino turned up the throttle again, racing over and just plain outrunning the attacks intended for him. Realizing it was a lost cause to continue firing at the Raphael, the Britannians turned their guns back toward the more imminent threat of Gino's wingmen. Mitchell flew his Ambriel straight into the gunfire, raising his frame's arms defensively in front of him. Two Blaze Luminous Systems turned on, shining green and bright, deflecting every bullet aimed at him. José in the Sachiel flew behind his ally who was so graciously shielding him from the deadly attack. Then, when he was sure they were in range, he flew out from cover, above his teammate, and fired a few bursts from his own rifle scoring direct hits on two Vincents. Then he launched an arm-mounted slash harken and whipped it about, ripping through several enemy knightmares in an arc in front of them. Masashi had started his flight by making a steep dive, then flying low and away from the main formation. With the enemy's attention turned to his Britannian teammates, he forced his Uriel into a sharp turn and caught two more Vincents off guard with quick slashes of his MVS scythe.

Way out in front, Zero was pounding through Britannian knightmares with reckless abandon. It was a trait he supposed he shared with his sister Kallen. Though he liked to think he had a better temper than her, he knew when he lost it, he could be just as brutal as her.

Left at a distance: Turn to launch left hip slash harken.

Directly ahead: Horizontal slash with the left claw.

Moving in from behind: Follow through with claw attack for full turn, then launch right finger slash harkens.

Coming from the front again: Pull right arm back. The enemy knightmare from before is still attached to the finger slash harkens - throw it into the enemy coming from the front.

Zero became a whirling dervish of attacks, weaving back and forth and turning every which way to face his enemies and annihilate them. Still though, he never stopped moving deeper into the city, never once changing his direction, never stopping his charge. Some fool in a brightly painted purple Vincent Command variant dared brandish an MVS sword against the leader of the Black Knights. The Gabriel reached out with its left claw and grabbed the enemy's weapon, holding it away so it couldn't be used to block. Zero drew back his knightmare's right arm and popped out its hidden blade. Then, with his mind consumed in the rage of a berserker, he screamed a warcry and he threw his full bodyweight into shoving his right command yoke forward, driving the Gabriel's arm-mounted weapon straight through his opponent's cockpit and out the other side.

Zero tore his right arm's blade out from the enemy knightmare and it crumpled before him. He paused, unintentionally wasting time to inspect the blood covering his hidden sword. He might have been upset at the wasteful killing, but this was necessary. It was necessary to push Britannia out of lands it had no business invading. It was necessary for the sake of protecting people who didn't deserve to have their homes destroyed and their lives taken. All this because of dubious accusations about assassinations no one seemed to really know anything about. This was senseless violence, but it was necessary for him to be part of it, fighting against it. It was... Wait, what the HELL!?

As the Gabriel stood firmly in place, staring at its bladed right arm, Zero's sensors picked up the form of a girl in front of him, running out of a building and across the middle of the warzone.

"What are you DOING!?" Zero broadcasted his disbelieving shout at the girl's blatant disregard for the fighting going on around her. She stopped in her tracks and looked up at the black, metal angel of doom before her questioningly, seemingly unperturbed by the wake of corpses it had left behind it.

More Britannians were coming. Without a second thought, Zero retracted his hidden blade and reached out the Gabriel's relatively normal right hand to pick the girl up lightly. He then moved to hold her against his knightmare's chest protectively.

"Zero, I'll handle this," Gino's voice carried through the Gabriel's radio and Zero checked his map, seeing red blips behind him disappear as the Raphael took them out. "Just get that civilian to safety."

Zero didn't say a word, he simply sped off, not too fast, to avoid killing the poor girl with a rapid increase in Gs. She must have been a simple resident of Bordeaux who got caught up in this whole mess when Britannia started attacking. He would just fly up to a German aircraft and deposit her there, then fly back down and... GODDAMMIT!

Bullets flew from Vincent Terrier rifles, their owners hidden inside bombed out buildings. With Zero's attention suddenly divided, he hadn't noticed them. Round after round pounded into the Gabriel, the extra armour plating absorbing huge amounts of damage before the concentrated fire blasted even them apart. Zero's Air Glide System was hit. He was going down! But he couldn't eject with that girl still in his knightmare's grip.

Naoto scowled in frustration as the outer wall of a building came up to meet him.

"Aoh SHIT."


	13. Wearing the Mask: Scene 12

**Wearing the Mask: Scene 12**

_A single beam of light amid a stage of black, that is what he sees. People are standing there in a circle, holding hands in the light. How many of them are there? It's not clear. Their features are blurred, he can't even tell if they're man or woman. There is only one thing of note about them. The red mark. They each are branded with a single mark of a bird upon their body. One has it upon the top of their left foot, the next with the mark on their right foot. Another bears it upon their shoulder, then one on the other, each palm, across the heart, upon the forehead..._

_All at once physical features become clearer. Then, they begin changing. Each person becomes someone new. Then they change once again. There is a woman. She is the one with the mark on her forehead. She wears the garb of a Catholic nun, and now she too becomes someone else. Her form morphs into that of a younger woman with long green hair and weary gold eyes. Around her, more changes from the others while she remains the same._

_One figure is changing constantly. It turns from man to woman, back to man again, then to a child with blonde hair down to his feet. It stays like that for a short while then becomes a tall, broad man with a ridiculous wig. The person changes one last time into a confident young man with medium length black hair covering his eyes._

_**"It's time to wake up," **__says the man with the confident smirk. __**"Wake up."**_

"Hey, wake up. I know you're not dead."

Naoto reluctantly opened his eyes. A girl with a bored frown stared back.

"It's about time," she said sarcastically.

Naoto blinked a couple times trying to get his bearings. He looked left and right and saw he was laying awkwardly in the cockpit of his Gabriel, the entry point open before him. He must have been knocked unconscious when he crashed.

"Can you help me up?" Naoto groaned. He still had a massive headache and now it felt like every muscle in his body was throbbing. The girl stared down at him, laying painfully across his control panel, and shrugged. She reached out a hand and he accepted it graciously, pulling himself up slowly.

The place they were both in was dark and filled with debris. This must have been where he made his crash landing when his knightmare was hit. They were in a huge room with desks everywhere. It seemed this used to be an office building of some kind, but it was hard to tell with all the craters and bullet holes in everything.

Naoto looked down at his Gabriel once he'd gotten to the floor and put a palm across his face in disappointment. The Britannians had made short work of the weapon, which was now just a chunk of twisted metal and scratched paint. If Lloyd or Rakshata could see the state their creation was in now, he was sure they'd have a heart attack.

"You've got more important things to worry about." That girl must've noticed his reaction to the Gabriel's destruction. Naoto was already sure he wasn't going to like her. He turned to look at her again, just to be sure. Yep, that was the same girl who ran out into the middle of a knightmare battle and the same girl he sacrificed his Gabriel to save. Naoto knew it was wrong to think it, but if he had known he'd be shot down because of this civilian girl, he probably wouldn't have saved her. Well, it was too late to change his mind.

Now that he was actually looking at her closely, he could see she was stunningly beautiful. Her clothes were nothing special, just a pair of black jeans and a dark purple turtleneck shirt, but they enticingly accentuated her slender frame. She was thin, thinner perhaps than was healthy, and her skin was pale and unblemished. She wore her long black hair down, flowing elegantly down her back. What Naoto was most drawn to though, was her enchanting violet eyes. They seemed to shine, even in the dark of this ruined building.

"You're Zero, right?" she asked. It was completely obvious he was Zero. He was wearing the purple suit, the black cape, the gloves, everything but the helmet.

"Yeah, I'm Zero," Naoto replied unenthusiastically, letting his irritation seep into his voice. He climbed up his knightmare and back into the cockpit. "And what's your name?"

"I don't have a name," the girl replied. "You may call me L.L."

Zero re-emerged from his cockpit wearing his iconic spiked helmet and his treasured purple sword on his belt. In his hands was a duffle bag and a machinegun. He threw the bag over to the girl before hopping back down to ground level.

"Right, whatever. The electronics in my knightmare are shot so there's no way to call for a rescue. If we don't want to get caught by any Britannians, we'd better get moving."

Zero started walking off, machinegun in hand, and the girl rolled those magnificent violet eyes at him. She took a look down at Zero's duffle bag of survival gear and put her delicate hands around its drawstrings. L.L. tried picking it up, but it didn't budge. She frowned and tried again, harder this time. She hefted it over her shoulder and groaned as its weight practically pulled her over. Gritting her teeth, L.L. took a step then stopped to pant in exhaustion. She groaned in frustration as Zero got farther and farther away from her. She hefted the bag again and ran with all she had to catch up.

They hadn't gotten far before Zero stuck out a hand for them to stop. He pushed a button on the side of his helmet and the world lit up for him. Inside the confines of the mask, Naoto's eyes looked back and forth at the screen in front of him, shining the green of nightvision. There was something moving out there. He pushed a few more buttons and red warning lights started popping up across his vision. He zoomed in on them then inhaled sharply. Britannian infantry were combing the area, probably coming to investigate his crash site.

Zero grabbed L.L. and threw her behind the cover of a huge chunk of ceiling that had fallen when an artillery round smashed it. He spotted a concrete pillar off to the side in front of him. His mask's HUD measured that it was at a distance of approximately 10 meters. Zero raised his rifle and started running, firing bursts of rounds in the direction of the red warning lights. There was a shout of pain and one of the lights on his mask's screen faded. He ran even harder as white flashes of gunfire lit up the other side of the long room. Bullets whizzed past Zero and he stopped at the cement pillar.

He peeked out from his cover and saw his enemy drawing closer. Zero abandoned his position behind the pillar and took a couple more shots. There were two more cries and two more red lights on his screen faded. He dove behind a desk just as bullets slammed into the floor where was only a moment ago. He peeked up from his cover again and saw there was only one of them left. He lined up the sights of his rifle and pulled the trigger and the last red marker on his screen disappeared.

Zero sighed in relief. He felt so exposed and vulnerable without his knightmare. He didn't like it.

There was the crunch of glass and rock and Zero turned his head. A Britannian in full grey infantry armour ran up beside his cover and raised his gun. Zero hadn't been paying attention! Of course the enemy had taken cover too, that's why they weren't showing up on his visuals. He should have known better than to assume he'd killed them all. There wasn't time to react. Zero was done for. He closed his eyes in anticipation of the end.

'That's it for me. I'm sorry, Kallen...'

There was a thump, but no bang. Zero cautiously opened an eye and saw L.L. standing over the Britannian, clutching Zero's heavy duffle bag in her hands and panting like a madwoman.

"I suppose it was a good thing this was so heavy," she said between gasps for air. Zero's mouth unhinged behind his mask and he stared incredulously at the girl before him. She'd saved him. True, he wouldn't have needed saving if she hadn't shown up in the first place, but what was done, was done, and now they were at least close to even. Now she only owed him a new knightmare.

"Thanks," Zero said quietly. "C'mon, let's get out of here."

Zero stood up and grabbed his duffle bag from L.L., carrying it in one hand and his machinegun in the other, and starting walking off once again. L.L. smirked and ran to catch up before walking along beside him.

They had made it across the long room and found a doorway leading to some stairs. Apparently they'd crashed into an upper floor of the building because there was a long way down to go. Zero took the lead and walked down the stairs with L.L. trotting along in silence behind him. When they made it out the stairwell an unpleasant sight was there to greet them.

A squad of Britannian infantry stood silently with their guns raised at the masked hero and his ward. An officer walked up from behind his squadmates and sneered condescendingly at the duo.

"Well well, if it isn't Zero himself." His voice was loud and abrasive. "I bet my superiors would give me a promotion for bringing you in. I'm sure they won't mind if you've been shot a couple times first, though."

L.L. looked from Zero to her right and to the Britannians in front about to kill them, then sighed. She reached out a hand and touched him on his left shoulder.

_**"I really didn't want to do this."**_

_What?_

_**"You seem like a nice guy though, so there's not really much choice, is there?"**_

_Naoto found himself in an endless white expanse, away from Bordeaux, away from the Britannians about to kill him, away from everything._

_**"Tell you what, I have something I want and you have something you want. Maybe we can make a contract."**_

_Did Naoto want something? Yes, yes he did. He wanted to get out this damn place and get away from these damn soldiers intent on ending him. But more than that, he wanted people to calm down and think carefully for once. None of this would have happened if everyone had simply stopped and considered what the just path of action was. There was no justice in attacking Europe on shoddy to non-existant evidence, inside job or not. There was no justice in turning down the EU's request for military assistance when it was owed to them. And there was no justice in killing Lelouch. Finding out who did it and why was the key to ending this war._

_"What kind of contract are you suggesting?" Naoto asked curiously. He wasn't sure what was going on or where he was, but he'd play along. It was better than being shot._

_**"I can give you the Power of the King. You need only the will to wield it and to grant my one wish."**_

_"And it'll get me out of being killed?"_

_**"Yes."**_

_"Done deal."_

Suddenly Naoto was back to the world he was used to. He felt... He felt GOOD.

"Tell me, Britannian soldiers, do you think it's right to kill your enemies? Do you think it's wrong to brainwash them, even if it spares them from death?" Naoto was grinning smugly behind his mask. He wasn't usually a vindictive person and he certainly was never arrogant, but he didn't really care at the moment about his sudden change of attitude.

"Sorry, but I failed philosophy class in high school." The officer raised a hand. "Prepare to fire!"

"That's fine," Naoto said, unbothered by the soldiers about to riddle him with bullets. "I already have an answer to the question. Just look into my eyes and you'll come to the same conclusion as me."

A feature of his helmet Naoto could never understand the purpose behind, activated. The eye section of his mask rolled open, revealing an innocent blue eye on the right and a glowing pink eye on the left, the symbol of a bird etched in red upon its surface. Not even a second after the mask opened, the soldiers in front of him lowered their guns.

"Oh god, what have we done!?" They looked at each other frantically, back and forth, and began lamenting to themselves.

"We killed so many innocents today!"

"Sir, why the hell did we follow our orders?"

"Oh god, how could I have been so stupid!?"

One of the Britannians turned his gun on himself in despair. The others stopped and looked at their friend as he blew his brains out and slumped over dead.

"He's right, there can be no forgiveness for what we've done."

They nodded to each other briefly then pointed their guns at themselves and pulled the trigger. Naoto, not exactly bothered by what had just happened, merely shook his head in surprise. He just sort of thought when they came around to his way of thinking they would join his side, not kill themselves. He'd have to remember people might have that reaction.

One, final time, Naoto felt himself falling into a dream. His head was pounding harder than it ever had before. He fell to his knees and dropped the bag and rifle that he'd still been holding onto during this whole ordeal. His gloved hands met with the building's tiled floor but it felt soft and comfy.

_**"I'm certain you would be able to make the choice only Zero can face: the right choice."**_

_**"You don't have to be the strongest, or the smartest person to be Zero. You need only stand for that which is just."**_

_**"You can show yourself your own worth.**__"_

Naoto felt himself falling. Falling. Falling...

NNNNNNNNN


	14. Wearing the Mask: Denouement

**Wearing the Mask: Denouement**

For the first time in almost three days, Naoto didn't have bizarre dreams before waking up, and the headache he'd sported ever since Tamaki had shown him the news was gone too. This time, waking up itself was like a bizarre dream. He was still wearing his Zero costume, minus the helmet and cape which were layed out beside him, but was nowhere near where he remembered being just a few seconds ago. He was on a bed, soft and comfy, pushed up against one side of a smallish room painted with muted colours of purple and pink and blue.

There was a soft humming sound coming from all directions. Naoto propped himself up and took another look at his surroundings. The only item of note was a window with sunlight beaming through it. Naoto stood up and walked cautiously up to it.

There were clouds. He was on a plane? That explained the humming noise but not how he got here.

At the other end of the room was a door, just asking to be opened.

Naoto steeled himself, taking the doorknob in his hand, then opened it.

"So that makes three. Just five left to go, right?"

No way.

"Only three left to find though."

Naoto's jaw dropped and he stormed right up to the scene before him.

"LELOUCH, WHAT THE HELL."

Lelouch vi Britannia, Suzaku Kururugi, Anya Alstreim, and Jeremiah Gottwald turned their heads to look at him from their various seats around the room. A table was bolted to the floor at the center of their group, laid out with a kettle and a plate of cups and biscuits.

"Oh, Zero, good evening," Lelouch said cheerfully. He swept out a hand to the table. "We'll be having a late dinner in a few hours. Would you like to join us for tea in the meantime?"

"I don't... WHAT!?" Naoto shouted angrily, looking quite like a deer in the headlights. He walked over to the knights and their emperor but didn't take a seat.

Anya grabbed a new cup from the table and filled with it with steaming hot tea. She offered it to Naoto and he just glared suspiciously back. She averted her eyes as a blush crept across her cheeks.

"Hi, I mean, um," she fumbled slightly. Her words may not have been well planned, but her voice was filled with expression. "Here, have some, uh, Zero."

Naoto took the drink stiffly.

"What exactly is going on right now?" he asked irritably. Lelouch looked about at his companions and nodded to them. Getting the message, they left their seats and walked out to a different lounge of the jet to leave the king and the hero alone. Anya stole a quick peek and snapped a picture of Naoto with her phone before scurrying off behind Suzaku.

Naoto and Lelouch stared at each other, not saying a word. The redhead took a sip of his tea then put it back down on the table. Lelouch showed no emotion as the man who'd taken the name Zero walked up to him, pulled him up by his collar, and slugged him.

"You used Geass on me, didn't you!?" Naoto shouted furiously. Lelouch's mouth peeled into the beginnings of a smirk.

"Geass?"

"Don't play with me, Lelouch!" Naoto released Lelouch's collar from his grip and the younger man plopped back down into his seat. He was apparently unbothered by the heavy blow to his face. No bruise formed either. "I heard the word when I made a contract with L.L. Geass. It's a magical power and you used it on me, right?"

The emperor laughed good-heartedly.

"What makes you think magical powers exist?"

That was actually a good question. Did Geass actually exist? Or was it something Naoto imagined in, what he was beginning to believe, was the most lucid dream he'd ever had? Too late. His mind was made up.

"What is Geass? Tell me!"

Lelouch shrugged.

"Geass is like a wish. Or rather, it's like the granting of a wish. It's the power to achieve what you can't do on your own. Everyone's power is different; a different power to grant a different wish."

"You have a wish, don't you?"

Lelouch smirked playfully at the redhead.

"You're right. I do have a wish, and I do indeed have a Geass power, but that's not how I cast my spell on you." Lelouch drew up his right hand and pulled off an immaculate white glove. There on his palm was the same red mark Naoto had seen in his visions. "About 20 minutes ago, right after today's UFN meeting, I used a power called Code on you. I imagined a scenario, then forced your mind to experience it. The events you lived through were just a dream."

Naoto took a step back and lowered himself to a seat across from the Black King.

"Then none of that even happened? But why?"

"You were unsure of yourself. I wanted you to see firsthand that you could handle being Zero during a crisis. I wanted you to see in yourself what I saw in you: A true heir to the mask of Zero."

Naoto's eyes shifted back and forth as he tried to put the pieces together. There was no war? There was no death? That was good, right?

"In the dream I had visions."

"The power of Code brought our minds into contact. What you saw were my memories being triggered by the events occuring around you."

"How did I get on this plane?"

"You were asleep while you were in the dream, obviously. Jeremiah and I carried you here across our shoulders before someone noticed you were unconscious."

"Where are we going?"

"The dream was grounded in reality: We're going to the Britannian Embassey in Vladivostok."

"Who is L.L.?"

At the mention of L.L., Lelouch choked on his tea. He cleared his throat before answering tersely.

"I am L.L."

Naoto gave the king a skeptical frown.

"You were that girl?"

"Well, no, that wasn't _me_," Lelouch replied uncomfortably. A long pause permeated the air as both men waited for the other to say something. Lelouch sighed and decided he had to continue. "You meeting L.L. was meant to parallel a moment from my own life. I got C.C., you got me."

"You made a female 'dream-you' to take C.C.'s role?"

"If I showed up exactly as I am now, it wouldn't be a very good parallel, would it?"

Naoto got up from his seat and started pacing back and forth.

"So, do I have Geass now?"

"You can't make lasting contracts with people in dreams, Naoto."

"Who does have it then?"

"Rolo Lamperouge has the power of Geass and I have given it to Suzaku, Jeremiah, Anya, and Kallen as well. I'm also considering granting it to several others."

Suddenly Naoto stopped pacing and stared incredulously at Lelouch.

"All of them? What's going on?"

This time Lelouch didn't answer immediately. He took a sip of tea and began compulsively rubbing his right palm with his still gloved left thumb. He looked Naoto square in the eye before replying seriously.

"There was another reason why I had you live through that dream."

Okay. Here it was. This was classic Lelouch, (and Zero, strangely). Ulterior motives, hidden agendas, they were seemingly as common for him as breathing.

"Do you remember that secret mission Zero went on in the Chinese Federation?"

That was an odd question. Zero had gone out on many secret missions between the formation of the Black Knights and the death of Charles zi Britannia. But there was only one mission kept secret even from Naoto, Zero's second in command. Lelouch continued.

"You now know about Geass, so you should feel the gravity of what I'm about to tell you. Charles zi Britannia was organizing a cabal of Geass users to do his bidding. Zero ordered for the group, calling themselves the Geass Order, to be purged."

Naoto gulped. Just from a moment of having it for his own, he knew the power of a single Geass. His power, the Power of Absolute Influence, had been especially potent and, ironically, as most Geass tended to be, immoral. He wasn't entirely sure of the specifics, but Naoto knew whoever was affected by his Geass would have entire aspects of their personality rewritten to match his own. And there was an army of people with powers like that? With Charles zi Britannia at the helm? No wonder Zero had the Geass Order destroyed. If he'd known about it at the time, Naoto probably would have overseen the executions himself. At this moment, Naoto was hoping desperately this didn't go where Lelouch was suggesting.

"Code grants immortality and allows a host of other abilities too, if you have the drive to uncover them. You may have gathered by now that those who bear the power of Code may also grant Geass to others. It would only take a single Code-Bearer to plunge this world into chaos if they so had the inclination. It would actually be incredibly easy for them to build a whole new Geass Order without ever being detected. I won't allow that to happen again. Ever."

Naoto's face fell. That was exactly the opposite of what he wanted to hear. He licked his lips and swallowed. Without realizing it, his body had become tense. He sat back down and took his cup of tea, pouring the now slightly cool liquid down his throat hastily.

"So you're making your own group of Geass users? For what purpose?"

Lelouch laid his elbows against his legs and steepled his hands before him.

"We're going to find all those who have a Code and take it from them. We'll keep the power centralized and contained. The only ones who deserve power are those who can be trusted not to use it for personal gain." Lelouch bowed his head and placed it thoughtfully against his hands, staring down as he continued.

"I have reason to believe there are 8 Codes out there. We used to only have two under control, but I've been busy since the end of the war. As of now, we have 3 Codes out of 8 accounted for. C.C. has one, and I've got the other two."

He stopped for a moment and frowned. The next words he spoke were filled with regret and disgust.

"Originally, obtaining Codes was just a way to keep my personal friends and family alive forever. Selfish."

The thought concluded, Lelouch returned to his infinitely preferable conspiratorial tone.

"We had some _issues _getting that last one though. That's what got me to thinking about this differently. If the 5 remaining Code-Bearers got wind of my intentions somehow, they could resort to desperate measures to keep their immortality. Or they could welcome the end of their eternal life. Both are possibilities."

Naoto nodded along, suddenly understanding the other reason Lelouch made him live through that dream of despair. That same sort of catastrophe he witnessed could happen in real life if the power of Code and Geass fell into the wrong hands. After all, Lelouch said the dream was based in reality. Knowing Lelouch's foresight, he probably planned out a whole in-dream conspiracy to explain the events going on behind the curtains. And Geass was almost certainly at the center of it. Such a chain of events could easily be one possible future if actions weren't taken to prevent it.

Lelouch was anticipating the possibility of another war. This one wouldn't be between nations though, it would be between immortals and their thralls.

"I'm on board," Naoto said, standing up abruptly. "I don't understand all this supernatural stuff just yet, but I do know Geass as a concept can't get out to the public, and those who use it can't be allowed to roam free. It's too dangerous. Right, Zero?"

Lelouch looked up suddenly and raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, so you figured it out? I'm not surprised. It's probably for the best, anyway."

Lelouch stood up and stepped around the table in the center of the room. He walked toward Naoto and stopped about a foot away. Lelouch raised his ungloved right hand and placed it against Naoto's left shoulder gently. Regal purple eyes stared up into calming blue eyes.

"I propose a deal. In exchange for power, you must agree to make my one wish come true. I wish the world was a kinder, gentler place for all, and for always. This power I grant you, The Power of the King, will condemn you to a life of solitude. Are you prepared for this?"

Earnest blue eyes stared down into passionate purple eyes.

"I am."


	15. The Kings Cometh: Scene 1

_The search for power, if to be kings they dare._

* * *

><p><strong>The Kings Cometh: Scene 1 (Good Night, Black King)<strong>

A week was all it took to barter for the return of the Britannian Motherland. England, along with Scotland, Wales and Ireland, was returned to Britannian ownership not by sword and powder, but by calm words and political saavy. There was brief talk among the Britannian and EU diplomats of the UFN, most notably Emperor Lelouch on behalf of Britannia, Minister Albert Sunder on behalf of England, and Minister Gilles Vavier, who simply refused to be left out, on behalf of France, about transferring the Britannian seat of government back to London, but the thought was ultimately shut down as impractical. Instead, all the lands of the British Isles would be considered almost completely autonomous territories, allowed to join EU politics due to their proximity, and able to keep their own internal government structure. All that would really change was the borders on the map, and to whom the people of those lands would owe fealty.

The reason for this was mostly because of the people themselves. There was a certain pride to be had in knowing their new Head of State was in fact the legitimate heir to the dynasty that had ruled over them for almost two millennia uninterrupted, until Napolean stepped in. Nevertheless, the people of the UK and Ireland had gotten quite used to life without king and court. If for no other reason than that, and the massive ocean between the British and American shores was certainly a hard one to dismiss, trying to impose absolute monarchy over the islands once more would probably not go over well. His Majesty Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia, 99th Ruler of the Realm, was more than pleased with the arrangement however, so long as the borders between the current and the original Britannian mainlands became open, and relations between the Empire and the EU improved.

A job well done, Lelouch set off for home, from the UFN capital of Penglai to Pendragon, Britannia. Lelouch and his knight escorts Jeremiah Gottwald, Suzaku Kururugi and Anya Alstreim, arrived at his newly built Imperial Palace late into the night, managing to avoid crowds of wildly cheering Britannians come to congratulate their king on his diplomatic triumph with the UFN. Bidding his companions a good night, Lelouch strolled by himself to his private rooms, content to spend the rest of the night by himself in bed. Of course, the king knew he wasn't likely to get that alone time. As he entered the main sitting room of his private quarters and turned on a light to find his way to his room, bright hair of green assaulted his eyes.

"Don't tell me you're planning on going to bed already?" C.C. reclined lazily on a plush purple sofa facing away from the entry. As Lelouch came in, she craned her neck back over the edge of her seat to address him. Lelouch merely groaned, not feeling like he had the energy to deal with the greenette's shenanigans. He walked right by her, focusing his attention only on getting to his bed and flopping down onto it. C.C. would have none of that however, and grabbed his arm, pulling him into a warm hug. She wore what was slowly becoming her standard dress now that she had to look presentable on a daily basis. Luckily for her, as she did not truly have a position in Lelouch's administration, she was free to avoid wearing gaudy dresses, an unofficial requirement for women of status in Britannia. A plain but crisp, white, sleeveless button down shirt rested lightly against her skin, unfettered by undershirts or brassieres. With the top few buttons unfastened, her collar flared open, allowing a tantalizing view of her upper chest. Moving down from the untucked shirt, she wore tight fitting black dress pants atop black stockings and short heeled shoes of emerald green.

"Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happen to see me?" the immortal girl teased, gradually releasing Lelouch from her grasp. As if to spoil her fun, Lelouch dug around in his pocket and pulled out his handgun, removing its magazine and its chambered round and tossing it onto an endtable. C.C. frowned in, what Lelouch found to be, comical disbelief.

"Do you always carry a gun with you everywhere you go?"

"What, don't you?" The voice that answered came from a large couch deeper into the room. Kallen roused herself from her sleep, blinking rapidly as she tried to shake off her drowsiness. Thin blue pajamas hung off her body loosely and her hair was a mess from nestling her head into a throw pillow. It had become a habit of hers, to come and nap in Lelouch's palace main living room right after she got done with her day at school. That she was still here in the living room instead of her own quarters must've meant she was waiting for him to get back from Penglai. C.C. was probably just there to keep her company. Or she couldn't resist being there to tease the Black King the moment he came home.

"Kallen, you too?" C.C. really seemed to have a hard time wrapping her head around the concept of packing heat. She looked from the pistol to Lelouch, but as she turned from it, she seemed to realize something was amiss. She reached over to pick it up, stretching her arm and arching her back enticingly. On each side of the weapon was a name, scratched clumsily into the metal. "EUPHEMIA" and "SHIRLEY." C.C. gave a sidelong glance at Lelouch, who had removed his gloves and dresscoat and was attempting to disengage from the women around him to go to bed. He noticed the look the immortal girl gave him though, and sighed, walking back to the couch to take his gun from her.

"They're fine now, but I can still barely look them in the eye," he started seriously, though his voice was breathy and tired. He turned the gun over in his hands a couple times, appearing to be thinking deeply about something before setting the weapon back down. "This is my way of reminding myself why I continue living. Every time I look at this gun, I remember why I started over in the first place, and who I'd pull the trigger to protect."

Kallen had gotten up from her couch and walked over to Lelouch. She reached out a hand and placed it against his cheek. She stared into his eyes, sullen from the subject of people who had once died but were now unharmed. She caressed his face for a moment and smiled. He was so serious now. It showed how deeply he cared for the people around him.

"Welcome home, Lelouch."

Under Kallen's soothing touch, Lelouch felt like he could hardly stay awake, but he smiled back, moving an arm around to pull her in for a kiss. It was slow and chaste, and when they pulled away Lelouch put his other arm around Kallen's back and held her close. He laid his head against her shoulder and took a deep breath, drinking in her scent contentedly.

"I feel home."

They stayed like that for a while and C.C., frowning as she started to feel left out, popped up from her own seat to join them.

"We heard about your success at the UFN on the news," she said as she playfully tried breaking up the couple's moment together. "So we're good for the next phase of the plan, then?"

Finally releasing Kallen from his longing embrace, Lelouch moved to take off his cravat and his shirt. He threw the clothing unceremoniously across his gun with his right arm, flashing the red sigil of Code on his palm. Across his right shoulder was the mark yet again, proving that he had indeed gone beyond the impossible and obtained immortality twice over. This one, he promised, was to be Kallen's Code when she fully matured her Geass. Of course, the way things were going, that could take a while. The Power of Absolute Perception wasn't exactly suited only to combat, but Kallen was having a difficult time figuring out when seeing in slow motion would be beneficial.

"Mmhm," Lelouch drawled quietly as he walked over to Kallen's couch, still warm from her resting there just a minute ago. "I barely even had to use my Geass."

C.C. crossed her arms haughtily and turned her frowning face away from the king in mock disdain.

"That's so unfair. You obtain Code but get to keep your Geass too? Only you could get away with something like that."

Lelouch slumped into place on the couch, smiling at the soft fabric against his skin. He'd abandoned the idea of getting all the way to his bed and decided to just fall asleep right there. He apparently was unconcerned about taking off his shoes or putting any kind of pajamas on too. He didn't seem to care about brushing his teeth either, but being immortal and self-healing, it wasn't like tooth decay could really affect him anyway.

"Not just me," he mumbled. "Everyone can have Code Geass now that we know how to get it."

Code Geass. It was something that shouldn't have been possible. A contractee lost their Geass when they took their contractor's Code. But what Lelouch had learned in his two lives was there was a loophole to acquire Code without sacrificing Geass. Each time he'd gained Code, he'd taken it from his father, someone who didn't happen to be his contractor. After the Code activated, his Geass was still there. What that could only mean, then, was a contractee could take Code from anyone once their Geass was complete, but they'd only lose their power if the Code they took was from the person they originally made a deal with. Whether contracts were tied to a single Code or not was still to be seen, but Lelouch didn't want to think about it now that he was drifting off to sleep.

"Is Kaguya with Clovis again?" Lelouch changed the subject, just barely keeping awake. Kallen and C.C. flashed knowing grins at each other before replying, taking turns to give their update on the Japanese loli.

"Yeah, she hasn't come back in yet."

"They've been with your sister, Odysseus and Darlton since 9 o'clock. She must love winning all their money."

According to Lelouch's plan, entitled "Operation Codebreaker," Clovis and Kaguya were to keep the Britannian government in working order together while he and his trusted allies began their quest for total domination over Geass. As such, the soon-to-be consort to the Britannian Emperor was spending a great deal of time around the prime minister, either making herself visible to the public so they got used to the Japanese woman, or picking up the slack on jobs Clovis couldn't get around to. The reason he didn't do that work fluctuated between him being too busy with other projects, and because he was leaving the office early to get to various parties on time.

Kaguya and Clovis did spend time together outside of work though, usually among groups, so Kaguya could get acquainted with Lelouch's family. A few times the prince showed her around Pendragon, pointing out the best salons and restaurants, opining the whole way how wonderful her marriage to Lelouch would be once the king had taken care of his "business" abroad. He even offered to help arrange the wedding and paint a lovely portrait of the event afterwards from memory alone.

In today's case, what was planned as a simple night of wine and friendly betting with his dear sister Nunnally, his eldest brother and one of Cornelia's men turned into a desperate struggle to keep the Japanese princess from emptying their wallets in every game they played.

Back in Lelouch's main sitting room, Kallen and C.C. talked quietly as the Black King snoozed happily on a couch, oblivious to the fact his blood sister was not only up far later than was proper, but was also getting involved in gambling.

"Clovis seems on the level, and Kaguya will figure out something's going on eventually," Kallen said gently to the greenette, holding a hand to her face so as not to wake Lelouch. "Maybe we should tell them about Geass too?"

"Oh, Clovis already knows about Geass," C.C. replied, frowning sourly at the memory of her, admittedly, very short time as the subject of Code R. She had made peace with the prince at Lelouch's behest, but that didn't mean she would forget their history together. "As it stands now, he knows more than he should. He'll have to be brought into the fold sooner or later. Kaguya could be very useful to the plan though. I'll form a Contract with her tomorrow, maybe."

Kallen nodded to herself and felt her eyes begin to droop. An unspoken agreement passing between them, Kallen picked Lelouch up gently from his place on the couch and carried him to his bed, C.C. following along behind. The poor guy sure was tuckered out. Rushing around the world back and forth must've taken a lot more out of him than he would admit. Not to mention going halfway across the globe to negotiate with the UFN then flying all the way back in only a week.

With Lelouch still fast asleep, Kallen took off his shoes, threw some blankets over his rising and falling chest, then crawled into bed beside him. With an approving smile, C.C. turned out the lights in the king's suite and left the couple alone, slipping away to go see how much money Kaguya had won off Clovis and friends.

CCCCCCCC


	16. The Kings Cometh: Scene 2

**The Kings Cometh: Scene 2 (Scrying-I)**

It was an unusally bright day in London, England, Britannia as Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia became the first member of his lineage to set foot in his ancestral home in 2 centuries. The purpose of this trip was for the king to visit the city, give grand speeches and generally just meet the people of the land, to reassure its citizens their lifestyles wouldn't be drastically changed by their return to Britannian monarchy.

Lelouch had another reason to be there, however. Though he genuinely was pleased to see the sights and wonders of this place, untainted by the rise of Modern Britannian Darwinistic Theory, the primary goal of this trip was to gain physical access to the Thought Elevator beneath the city.

_The documents and information about Geass leftover from Charles zi Britannia were almost entirely destroyed during the war with the Black Knights, either by his own followers to prevent the information from falling into the enemy's hands, or by the Knights themselves on their mission to obliterate the Geass Order. If anything remained from his research, Lelouch couldn't find it, so he had to start from scratch._

_What Lelouch hypothesized, and C.C. confirmed, was each Code had a connection to a certain Thought Elevator, each located somewhere all across the world. In other words, if they could find all the ancient sites of Geass, they could find all the Code-Bearers too. Lelouch's Thought Elevator was located on the northeastern coast of the Britannian mainland, and after a quick trip to the general area, he used his Code as a compass and found the place in question easily. A most peculiar revelation came upon him as he used his Thought Elevator to leave reality and travel to C's World. He could feel the other Thought Elevators all across the world, but only one, the closest one to his own, could he truly locate on a map afterwards._

_A short trip to Cuba later, and another Thought Elevator was brought under control. Along with it, the location of the next closest Thought Elevator, northern Antarctica, was found. Most interestingly though, as Lelouch entered C's World from the Cuban Thought Elevator, he could feel the current location of the Code-Bearer connected to it..._

After a long day of touring London and meeting with UK and Irish dignitaries, including a somewhat distrusting Albert Sunder and a cheerful Gilles Vavier, (who claimed it was his duty to be present for this historic day since he was instrumental in making it happen), Lelouch and his team were free to pursue their more pressing objectives. C.C.'s Code had originated from the London Thought Elevator, and, as such, she easily led Lelouch and his entourage of Kallen, Jeremiah, Suzaku, and Anya, to the arcane device. They traveled through the city, right up to the Thames, and found a building that was supposed to house a hidden passage in its basement. With a quick Geass command from Lelouch, they were allowed access to the lower levels of the area, and all knowledge and evidence of their presence was erased. The passageway was right where C.C. predicted.

"So, what's this place supposed to look like?" Anya wondered aloud, as she and the rest of Lelouch's team made their way through a dark tunnel of dirt and rock. On the previous missions to find Thought Elevators, Lelouch had taken only Jeremiah and C.C., but now that the plan was entering the next stage, more people had to be directly included in every step.

Anya Alstreim found herself in a strange position when it came to Geass. One day, a few months after Lelouch had become king and she'd sworn over her service to him, out of the blue he asked her if she could handle an unpleasant bit of information. Learning that she'd been housing the mind of a dead woman, almost like a second, dominant personality for years had been rather unsettling, but it made Anya appreciate Lelouch all the more for having freed her from his mother's grasp. Then came an offer: To have the same power that Marianne used to enslave her. How could anyone want Geass knowing what horrible things it could do to people? But Lelouch said it was because she was a victim of Geass that she could be trusted not to abuse the power, that she could be trusted to help him prevent such a fate from happening to anyone ever again.

So here she was, walking along in a dank underground passage that hadn't been touched in centuries. It was a spooky place to be completely honest. While Marianne was with her, Anya felt next to no fear, had felt almost nothing really, but now, everything seemed so new and vivid. This tunnel was, therefore, especially unpleasant to her. If only she had someone to hold close, like Kallen right in front of her had Lelouch. That'd make her feel a lot better. There seemed to be an aura of dread in the tunnel leading up to what C.C. said was her Code's Thought Elevator. Suzaku was shivering and looking back and forth suspiciously, like he was afraid something was going to jump out of the walls. Every once and a while Anya could make out a flash of red from his eye as he used his Geass defensively. Jeremiah seemed less bothered than Suzaku, but only because he was making a visible effort to stay calm. As previously noted, Kallen held Lelouch's hand and together they seemed completely fine. C.C. walked at the front of their group looking like she had nought a care in the world.

As it turned out, no answer to Anya's question was needed. As the team got deeper along into the tunnel, a faint pink light could be seen up ahead. The closer they got, the brighter the light became until, finally, the passage opened into a huge chamber. Unlike the rough edges of the packed earth in the tunnel though, this place was clean and smooth, with ceiling, floor and walls of polished black obsidian. Stange glyphs and symbols were etched into every surface and at the very end of the room, at the top of a long staircase carved straight out of the black rock, was a large platform and some kind of gate without latch, handle, or hinge. The pink light was coming from this gate, right from its center, where the shape of a stylized "V" shone intensely.

Her companions standing back, C.C. walked up to the gate reverantly, a look of awe and something like joy on her face. The Code on her forehead began to glow red in resonance with the artifact.

"It feels familiar," she said, drawing slowly closer to the source of the light. "It's the first time I've ever been here, but I feel like this place is where I truly belong."

Lelouch motioned for everyone to follow behind him as he stepped forward to join C.C. at the top of the stairs. What unnatural apprehension the group had felt in the tunnel was now magically gone in the presence of such an amazing wonder as this. Was it a defense mechanism to scare off intruders? Nobody could ever really know, for whoever built the first Thought Elevators were certainly gone now. When they were all at the top of the platform, standing before the splendour of the brilliantly shining gate, Lelouch took off his gloves and reached out his left hand. Unlike C.C., his Codes remained unaffected by proximity to this ancient construct.

"Take my hand and don't let go," he said, looking from his friends to the device in front of them. "We're going in."

Kallen, Jeremiah, Suzaku and Anya each took hold of the king's skin uncertainly and looked on as he reached out his right hand and C.C. reached out with both, and touched the surface of the gate.

Instantly, the pink light of the obsidian chamber was gone, replaced with an expanse of endless white. Jupiter loomed affably overhead. C.C. walked to and fro, without any noticable pattern, as if she were looking for something. She closed her eyes and concentrated, and the world around them changed again, a map of the world appearing beneath the team and hazing over with pink. At certain points on the map the pink light was stronger, with a spot in England burning blindingly bright. Images flashed around them of scenes and places unseen. Caves. Underneath the earth, on an island, in a savannah, in a pasture, buried beneath ice and snow.

"That one," C.C. stopped the visions on the image of the pasture. "That Thought Elevator's closest to this position. Give me a minute and I'll be able to pinpoint its location."

Lelouch nodded and stepped closer to her. He took Kallen's and Anya's hands with his own and placed them against C.C.'s, their skin never leaving that of a Code-Bearer. At an odd look from the girls, he looked at them seriously.

"This is C's World. If you don't have a Code, it can be incredibly easy to get lost." With Jeremiah and Suzaku still holding onto their king, Lelouch started walking off into the white nothingness. "We'll be right back."

And with that, Lelouch and his favoured knights were gone.

AAAAAAAAA


	17. The Kings Cometh: Scene 3

**The Kings Cometh: Scene 3 (Scrying-II)**

Shortly after midnight, Zero rounded up the members of Zero Squad 1st Detachment from their quarters at Black Knight HQ, and took them on a late night "training exercise." What this amounted to was making a long range flight in their custom knightmares across the sea to... Well, to somewhere. Zero was being tightlipped about it. Why they needed their knightmares was a mystery, but morose Masashi Kuroda thought he might know. Being with the Black Knights since almost the beginning, he'd had the dual privilege, and incredible misfortune, of serving under the first Zero, getting to know some of his methods. Bringing their knightmares was probably so they could travel relatively undetected.

Eventually, Zero spotted land, or more precisely, the land he was looking for. It was a small little island a little way off the eastern coast of the USJ. There were some small mountains, a waterfall, beautiful beaches and plenty of vegetation, but not anything of any real note. According to Zero, they were supposed to be alone here.

Zero Squad 1st dropped from the sky and disembarked from their frames a little farther inland than anyone but Zero thought necessary. Zero pulled out a hand-drawn map of the area and led his warriors forward. They walked in the dark, around trees and stones, but at Zero's insistance, made a turn away from the sandy beaches and headed for a much less pleasant, rocky coast.

That's when Gino decided it was time to ask what he and his three wingmen were all thinking.

"Hey, Zero? What exactly are we doing out here in the middle of nowhere?"

Zero stopped leading the explorers and turned completely to look at them. Mirrored helm met eyes of blue, green and brown, and, not for the first time, everyone in Zero's presence immediately began to feel uncomfortable.

"This is a secret mission," Zero said after a long delay. "Our objective here is to locate and manually activate an ancient artifact then wait for further instructions."

Zero pointed to the map as if it held some fantastical truth. His men just looked on in silence, waiting for their leader to say something else or for something to happen. Zero did eventually pick up on their confounded stares and pointed agitately at his map. No response.

"Look, I'll level with you. I could have just come alone, but I thought you guys were trustworthy, so I brought you along anyway. Some things are about to go down and I need as many people in the know as possible, alright?"

Still no response.

Zero, finally losing his patience, gestured for his squad to continue following him. After another short bout of walking, they came upon the mouth of a cave, and Zero doublechecked his map. Deciding this was indeed where they were supposed to be, Zero walked into the darkness of the rocky opening, followed by four unamused knightmare pilots.

At the very end of the cave was a wall of stone, with symbols and patterns engraved into it. Zero checked his map again and swore to himself, something about Emperor Lelouch and bad instructions. The masked hero walked up to the stone slab and touched it, moving his black gloved hands back and forth across the rock. Whatever he was trying to do, he wasn't having much success. Then something must have clicked because out of nowhere the glyphs in the wall began to light up, filling the whole cave with blinding pink light.

Zero yelped and stepped back, lowering his head into his left palm and clutching at his helmet in pain.

"Zero, what's going on? Are you okay?" Gino ran up to Zero in a panic at his sudden distress. Zero waved him off.

"I'm fine, it's nothing." He took his hand away and shook his head lightly, as if to get whatever was suddenly bothering him out. "My eye was just hurting, is all. See-?" He straightened his posture and pulled his cape around him, "-all better now."

His soldiers didn't seem convinced. Masashi raised a hand to be noticed.

"Now what?" His voice was low and plaintive and his face was twisted into a frown of dour bewilderment. Zero led Gino back away from the glowing stone slab and back to their allies.

"Now we're supposed to wait."

The members of Zero Squad 1st were more than a little bit taken aback by the weirdness of this mission, and after only a few minutes José decided it was time to get some more info.

"Um, Boss, what is this place?" he asked quietly. He sat on the ground with a hand to his chin, supporting his head as he stared at the remarkable device before them.

"I'm not entirely sure what this place is, or how it works. All I know is it's important." A groan passed from Zero's men at his unhelpful answer. In quick reply, the masked man turned a piercing glare upon them and they quieted back down.

Minutes passed as the knightmare pilots and their leader waited for something to happen. The minutes turned into an hour. Then into another hour. All the while, the pink light from the stone wall did not fade. Then the light turned from pink to red and there was a flash as something materialized from thin air.

What had appeared was none other than Lelouch, Jeremiah, and Suzaku, having travelled from the Thought Elevator in London, to C's World, to the Thought Elevator on Kamine Island in next to no time at all. Zero didn't seem to be too upset by this, though his mask and cape did obscure most of his reaction. Gino, Mitchell and José however, were quite a bit more animated by this unexpected turn of events. Masashi, as dreary as always, merely raised an eyebrow and let his mouth open in surprise.

Travelling between Thought Elevators was fast and efficient, but required both the transmitting and receiving relics to be active. C.C., as its Code-Bearer, had apparently activated her Thought Elevator merely by approaching it, while Zero, as an unrelated Geass user, had to work a little harder to get the Japanese site up and running. With both devices prepared, Lelouch and his knights managed to use them as beacons in the void that was C's World, to cut down on time and travel expense, and get to Kamine instantly. Now physically present at the site, they would be able to locate its Code-Bearer and the next closest Geass system after that.

"Lelouch, your instructions sucked!" Zero said to the emperor pointedly. "You can't just write about 'Thought Escalators' and some 'C Dimension' or whatever and expect me to understand it."

Lelouch looked upon his friend wearing the polished mirrored helmet and smiled amusedly.

"My instructions seem to have been well enough prepared for this part of the mission to be successful. I hope we can agree on that, at least."

Mitchell Perry had hardly said a word since they left their base on Horai 3 hours ago, but he had something to say now.

"What was the point of this mission?"

Zero and Lelouch looked at each other briefly, wondering who should answer. The man's superior officer? Or the guy who actually knew what was going on? There was silence from everyone in the chamber, not knowing what to say. Lelouch's eyes passed over Zero and those he chose to bring into this confusing situation. He realized then trying to explain what was going on to a few dumbfounded Black Knights and their only slightly better informed leader would probably be a lost cause at this point.

"Zero, if you believe your men are trustworthy enough to include this far, I recommend you go all the way. Only giving them half the information will cause mistrust to grow, and betrayel to be right around the corner."

Lelouch turned back to the Thought Elevator and was about to make a swift retreat back to C's World when a fanfare of trumpet and guitar came from one of his pockets.

_**Jibun wo sekai sae mo kaet- BEEP**_

Everyone stared at the young Britannian emperor as he pulled out his phone and pressed it to his head.

"Yeah... Yes, I'm in a basement right now, so... Is that so...? Yes, I'll make sure it happens... Thanks, Milly... I'll be there."

Lelouch put away his phone and cleared his throat upon seeing the strange looks he was getting from everyone, now even including his own knights.

"Well, we're going now," he said awkwardly, taking Jeremiah and Suzaku's arms and placing them against the exposed flesh of his left hand. "Thanks again, Zero. I'll let you know when it's time to move onto the next phase of the plan."

And with that, Lelouch placed his right hand against the surface of the wall and disappeared with his knights. Zero and his men looked at each other in stunned silence at the bizareness and unprofessional nature of their interaction with the Black King. With a sigh, Zero removed his mask and ran a hand through the red hair falling gently about his head.

"Well that was weird," Naoto said hesitantly. All he got back were frustrated glares. "I guess I should start at the beginning."

NNNNNNNNN


	18. The Kings Cometh: Scene 4

**The Kings Cometh: Scene 4 (MEC)**

Before Zero and the Black Knights made their presence known to the world, the Britannian Royal Army had no equal. Part of this was because of a massive push for education, and more importantly, applying that education to improving the military. One of the state-sponsored programs set up to encourage this was called "Military Engineering Credit." Any student of legal age, studying to become an engineer or mechanic of any variety, could turn in an application and, if accepted, work for and learn from masters of their respective field already stationed in the military, almost like an intern. They would earn additional credits for school, as implied by the title, be paid a meager wage for their help, and could ask their mentors for recommendations after graduating. Of course, the intent was for those who joined the program to come back to the army full-time, putting their education to work for King and Country.

As a motorcycle enthusiast and a fairly smart guy, if slightly dopey, it seemed only right when Rivalz Cardemonde decided to become a mechanical engineer. Unfortunately for him, his family wasn't made of cash, and working part-time to pay for tuition was proving more difficult in university than it did at Ashford. For one, the classes and assignments were much harder than they were in high school, and tests weren't just multiple guess, either. It also hurt that Rivalz didn't even have a job this time.

Such was only one of the hassles of moving back to Pendragon. The USJ had been fine and dandy, but the school Rivalz really wanted to get into, the Imperial Colchester Institute, just happened to be in Britannia. However, even after going through all the effort to move back across the Pacific, set up a new place of residence and apply to schools, he still didn't make the cut. With Colchester no longer an option, Rivalz had to go with his second choice, Pendragon Municipal University. It may have been the only public academy in the capital, but that also meant it was the the most presitigious public academy in the capital! He had to keep telling himself that.

So, while still looking for work and languishing in a first rate public college (he had to remember to think positive), his ears perked up at the idea of Military Engineering Credit when a recruiter came to his school. Rivalz applied without a second thought. He didn't have any other prospects, and really, there was nothing to lose by just applying. Besides, it wasn't like he would be expected to be a formal part of the army. He would still just be a college student, no matter what position his supervisor held.

When he got a letter in the mail, responding to his application, he was tense. Brilliant success? Or yet another depressing failure? He opened it up and read the first line and...

SUCCESS! HE MADE IT IN! And you know what? He was going to do it. No beating around the bush. He was approved to get Military Engineering Credit and he wasn't going to let the opportunity get away. He was going to write back and say he wanted to join.

Feeling very confident about his decision, Rivalz sent out an email to everyone he knew, telling them proudly that his strain of bad luck was finally at an end.

Shirley was the first to respond the next day. She said she was proud of him, and if she hadn't decided to go to school in the USJ, she would have been happy to join him at PMU.

Nina wrote a quick reply too. Her email consisted of one word, "Okay." Rivalz hadn't really stayed in contact with the shy girl since she left the USJ for the Britannian east coast. Last he'd heard, she was turning heads everywhere for her scientific theories and other _garbage _Rivalz couldn't keep track of. It made him feel bad to envy his friend's success, but he felt better every time he thought of how great things were going to be for him soon. Soon, he'd be learning from real pros and working on the sidelines of the Britannian armed forces!

Nunnally also got back to him, wishing she could go to a public school like he did.

Nobody else from the Ashford Student Council replied. Not Lelouch, (no surprise with him being the emperor and all), not Kallen, and worst of all, not even Milly.

On his first day with the military, whatever expectations Rivalz had, they were quickly blown over. During his orientation through a knightmare hangar, where he was going to do menial labour repairing parts and being yelled at by angry bosses, some army guy came up to him with an armful of papers and demanded his name.

"Are you Rivalz Cardemonde?" the man asked sternly.

"Y-yes?" Rivalz choked out nervously.

The man handed half his papers to Rivalz's supervisor then looked back at him with an unforgiving gaze.

"Come with me, please."

'Oh, that's not good.'

The man led Rivalz out of the hangar and to a waiting car. Rivalz entered it suspiciously, thinking up alibis and excuses for whatever he'd apparently done wrong. The guy escorting him stepped into the seat beside him and the car sped off.

"So..."

"An interested party has arranged for you to be transferred to a different department."

What, that was it? But wouldn't that sort of thing take a while? He was already being transferred before even starting his first day?

They drove along, getting closer and closer to some highly restricted areas. Hell, the Imperial Palace was practically within spitting distance! Without warning, the driver stopped in front of a series of tall, official-looking buildings. This must've been their stop. The army guy got out of the car and Rivalz joined him, still nervous, but not nearly as terrified as before.

They entered one of the buildings and walked in silence through several empty halls before Rivalz started feeling scared again. What was taking so long? Where were they going? Why was nobody around? Oh god, what if whoever had him come here was planning on using him for human experimentation? What if they'd killed his mom and put her soul into a giant cyborg knightmare for him to pilot against eldrich abominations!? The horrific possibilities were endless!

The corridor Rivalz and his escort were in currently was a dead end. At its end was an elevator with a control panel beside it. The army guy walked up to it and looked at one of the sheets of papers he was still carrying. Finding what he needed, he punched a code into the control panel and the elevator doors opened.

"Get in," was all he said. Rivalz nodded his head fearfully and stepped in, the army guy joining him as the elevator doors closed ominously behind him.

Rivalz was now sure he was going to die. Maybe a mad scientist with a screw through his head was going to dissect him? Maybe... Or what if...

The elevator went down, down, down, descending far below ground level. Eventually, it came to a stop and the doors opened. Okay, moment of truth. What was it going to be? Evil assimilation plot with orange tang, or magic soul-eating weapons?

"Oh no, no, that simply won't DO~!"

Mad scientist? Check.

"King Lulu was very specific, y'know. Energy wings or bust!"

Screw through the head? Not quite. Screw loose more like it.

"Surprise!" From a group of vaguely familiar faces, Milly Ashford, dressed in a very simple, (for her) yellow dress, jumped out and pulled Rivalz into a heavenly squeeze. "I got your email! I was so happy for you, but then I thought, 'How can I congratulate him?' So you know what I did? I got Lloyd to transfer you to his department! He'll pay you more than minimum wage and you'll actually learn something. Best of all, you'll be closer to me! Lelouch even made sure your transfer was at the top of the list! Isn't it great?"

Despite the wonderful feeling of the girl he'd been in love with since, well, forever, pressing up against him, Rivalz sadly couldn't forget she was taken. Milly had been engaged to Lloyd Asplund for years, and after the first Alliance Day a few months back, they finally got married, to the utter disbelief of everyone who actually knew the eccentric earl. He didn't even have a proper best man! He had to coax his assistant Cécile into wearing a tux and playing the part, much to her unsurprised chagrin.

"He can't say no to my womanly charms, you know." Milly rolled her eyes at Rivalz and he attempted to smile, but all it seemed he could do was make a pained cringe. She let go of him and led him toward her husband, the man who would be his new boss.

Apparently, the elevator Rivalz had taken landed him in an observation room with a single door leading to who knew where, and a window overlooking a very important looking hangar. Far below, Rivalz could see the massive underground vault was filled with mostly half put-together knightmares, the completed ones outfitted and painted in very non-standard ways. There were two that stood out from the rest, though, one painted white and gold and the other red and orange. Looking out the room's window was Lloyd Asplund, Cécile Croomy, Suzaku Kururugi, and the one on the receiving side of Lloyd's antics for the day, Rakshata Chawla.

"It's _my _child, I'll build the energy wings by myself if I have to." They seemed to be arguing about something. Rivalz wasn't entirely sure what energy wings were, but it sounded pretty hi-tech. A new type of float system maybe? "I refuse to let you tamper with it any further!"

"Excuse me, Lord Asplund," that army dude who brought Rivalz to this place stepped up to Lloyd and presented the bespectacled engineer with the remainder of his papers. "I need you to sign these release forms, sir."

Lloyd took the sheets reluctantly, as if they were diseased. He pulled a pen from his labcoat and flipped through the pages quickly, signing each one.

"There, done!" He handed the papers back and wiped his brow melodramatically. "He's all mine now, right?"

"That's right, sir."

"Good, you can go now. We're ve~ry busy here, as you can see." Lloyd flapped his arms about and the army dude stepped back into the elevator, tapping the "up" button rapidly, as if doing so would somehow get him away faster.

"Don't forget about our business here, pudding boy," Rakshata said irritably, crossing her arms in front of her. "Lancelot's your toy, the Guren's mine. If I'd known you were fiddling with it while it was still being rebuilt, I would have-"

"Excuse me, can we all calm down?" Suzaku tried to come between the two scientists but didn't seem to be having much success. Rivalz didn't really know the new Knight of One that well. He'd met the guy a couple times after the Black Rebellion, and had one solid talk with him on Alliance Day, but that was about it. Lelouch seemed to like him though, and that was all Rivalz needed to know to call him friend as well.

"You can only take his side since the Albion's all finished for you," Rakshata had moved her ire from Lloyd and was now harassing the knight instead. "What if _you _were the Guren's pilot? Wouldn't it bother you that Puddingman over there tampered with it?"

"Lloyd was only helping," a smooth voice came from the door. "You can make the SEITEN part of the FIR series."

Milly jumped for joy at Lelouch's arrival.

"There you are, Lelouch!" The blonde patted him heartily across the back, causing the emperor to cough in discomfort. "What took you so long? Sir Kururugi's been saying you were on your way for 20 minutes!"

"Sorry. Kaguya and Clovis wanted to talk to me about something."

"BEMOREONTIME," Milly shouted in Lelouch's face, attempting to cast her spell on the emperor. "So now we're all here we can celebrate Rivalz's promotion! Hey, where's Kallen?"

Lelouch put on his poker face as he answered the giddy woman's question.

"Since we made the trek all the way to London, I thought we'd take a little trip around the EU." He shook his head disappointedly. "But seeing as I have business back here, including saying hello to my friends, I let her go on ahead without me."

There was a short moment of tension as Lelouch and Rivalz met eyes, the latter falling to his knee and bowing his head in respect to his king. Lelouch shook his head resolutely and offered his friend a hand. Raising his head questioningly, Rivalz gave in to Lelouch's invitation and took his outstretched hand. Without warning, the emperor pulled his blue-haired friend up and into a bro-hug.

"Congratulations, Rivalz. It's good to see you again."

"Say, Your Highness?" Lloyd, having come to an agreement with Rakshata about completing the energy wings on the new "Guren SEITEN" knightmare, decided now was as good a time as any to be a nuisance. "We are at peace, aren't we?"

Lelouch didn't look the scientist's way, instead releasing his friend from his grasp and keeping his eyes focused squarely between Rivalz and Milly. He spoke evenly, not revealing anything from his voice alone.

"Yes, for the first time, the world is at peace." Lelouch paused before adding darkly, "Why?"

"Well, it's just that Rakshata and her people, and of course we here at ASEEC, have been working nonstop to get all your orders ready. I wonder, what could you need so many special knightmares for, _hm_?"

Lelouch's head snapped to look at Lloyd and his eyes narrowed sharply, warning him not to go any further with that line of thought in front of those not in the know. Suzaku began glancing around nervously, holding his lips together as tight as possible. He took a step away from the others.

"I gotta go," he said quickly and bounded through the door.

Lloyd smiled deviously at the Black King's reaction before completely changing the subject again. He turned to Rivalz, who was feeling more and more like he was hearing things he shouldn't every second.

"So you're the new guy, yes?"

"Um, yeah..." Seriously, what was Rivalz doing here? He had no idea.

"Welcome to ASEEC..."

LLLLLLLLLLLL


	19. The Kings Cometh: Scene 5

**The Kings Cometh: Scene 5 (Episode 3)**

Emperor Lelouch was behaving strangely. The strangest part wasn't really his behaviour though, it was the excuses he gave for it. In recent months, the king had handed almost all internal power over to Prime Minister Clovis and Kaguya Sumeragi, but he countered it was so he could pursue more pressing matters personally. The first of these "pressing matters" was taking a trip to the east coast, claiming it was to see Nina Einstein, a friend from high school. Just a little investigation however, indicated no such meeting had taken place. Shortly thereafter, Lelouch had gone to Cuba, supposedly to check on safety compliance among tobacco farmers. While he was gone, a riot inexplicably started in Miami and ended when the ringleader was executed by none other than Emperor Lelouch himself. Nevermind that he was supposed to still be on his trip, how was it that he just happened to be in the right place at the right time to do that? Well, it was all because C.C. smoked a cigar and got a little sick and then...

Lies. They were all lies. Everything was just too convenient. Cornelia li Britannia was certain of it. True, Lelouch had always been a little on the devious side, but something just didn't sit right with her about his current dealings. His poker face was impenetrable, but it was clear to the princess that something was going on and he wasn't planning on letting her in on it. Lately, Lelouch had even taken to being accompanied by not only his Knight of Orange, but also Sir Kururugi or Sir Alstreim everywhere he went, and was meeting with ASEEC on a near daily basis.

Whatever was going on, it was Cornelia's duty, not just as a member of Lelouch's Cabinet, but as his big sister, to find out the truth of the matter and help him through it. Today would be her best chance at that, for today Lelouch had finally slipped up.

It was completely by chance that Cornelia found documents alluding to a secret expedition to Antarctica. She had forgotten to pick up some forms from Lelouch that would require her signature and, not wanting to bother her little brother, who clearly needed a breather if his recent oddness was anything to go by, she went into his office and searched his desk for them. What she found instead were receipts, names and phone numbers, business cards, and letters of thanks for the emperor's personal patronage.

That was why Princess Cornelia and her knight, Gilbert Guilford, both known to be proud and bold figures, worthy of respect and emulation, were currently skulking around the Imperial Palace, taking quiet note of the various messy, disheveled hirelings Lelouch had acquired as they filed into the Great Hall. According to what she'd found, Lelouch had recruited all members for the expedition from private contractors, presumably to cover his tracks, and was meeting with them personally to give them a briefing.

"Princess," Guilford began nervously as he and Cornelia sidled along the Great Hall's outer wall toward the now closed double door entrance. "Are you sure it's a good idea to spy on your brother like this?"

This whole espionage business was just not his thing. He was practically shaking he was so tense, trying not to make a sound.

"Don't be a coward, Guilford!" Cornelia chided quietly, so as not to be heard from those inside the hall. Getting right up close to the doors, she stuck her head out cautiously, hoping to hear what was going on inside. Luckily for her, this new palace, though technically finished being built, still had a great many kinks to work out. Most importantly at this moment, was making the Great Hall sound proof.

"I, Lelouch vi Britannia command you..."

Oh, that was him! What was he saying? Cornelia couldn't quite tell. Something about not revealing something or other? Or to ignore something while on their assignment? Was that it? If she could just get a little closer and maybe even put her ear to the door, then maybe...

"Onee-chan, what are you doing?" Cornelia jumped at the sudden call from behind her. Briefly glancing at Guilford, it appeared he'd almost had a heart attack from the startling noise.

"Oh, Kaguya, it's just you!" Cornelia exclaimed with relief. The young Japanese woman had come right up behind her and Guilford while they were busy listening in on the emperor. She was accompanied by Clovis, as was becoming the norm, who gave a sickeningly sweet smile when his dear elder sister noticed him.

"Guilford and I were just about to go into the Great Hall and ask Lelouch about something, but it seems there's a meeting going on in there. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, _would you_?"

Her tone was dark and insinuating. Kaguya and Clovis glanced at each other, almost imperceptively quick, before turning on the charm. Clovis took the lead.

"Lelouch has all sorts of meetings," he started, shrugging noncommittally. "He sends memos to my office about them all the time. I don't usually read them though, unless I see my name on the list of attendees."

"So you're saying you _don't_ know who Lelouch is meeting with right now?"

There was a pause as Cornelia stared her brother down, waiting for him to say something incriminating. Did he know what business Lelouch was up to? If he did, was he involved in it? How deeply involved? Kaguya answered first.

"It's not like we have any time for such things. There's so much to do now that the UK and Ireland are back in the Empire. I fear we may never get the work done!"

Kaguya put the back of her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, falling back in a mock faint. Clovis caught her dramatically on her way down and set her back on her feet. Cornelia frowned as she was reminded why she sometimes really didn't enjoy her brother's company. The way he saw it, the best acting was overacting, and even then his theatrics bordered on the ridiculous. And now Kaguya was joining in, not that she was very serious before anyway. That was just wonderful. It didn't change the fact they didn't answer her question, either.

"Sister, darling, lighten up. If you frown like that you'll get wrinkles." Clovis walked up close to Cornelia and playfully put his hand up to point at the downturned corners of her lips. She shooed him away with a wave of her arm. Now it was Kaguya's turn to come up into the princess's personal space.

"You had to talk to Lulu anyway, right? If you're so curious about what he's doing in there you can just ask him when he's done, don't you think?"

Cornelia looked the Japanese woman in the eye as she thought of a rebuttal. She thought she saw a flash of red there for a moment before deciding it was just her suspicions of Lelouch making her paranoid. Yes, she was really just overthinking things. She could just ask her brother about it later.

"Yes, I suppose you're right, Kaguya," Cornelia relented with a soft sigh. "Come Guilford, we can just talk to Lelouch later."

Guilford raised an eyebrow at his princess's sudden change of decision, but nevertheless put a fist across his heart and followed her away. Clovis and Kaguya watched them go with fake smiles on their faces.

"It looks like Nelly is getting suspicious," Clovis whispered with intrigue dripping from his every word.

"Do you think it'll be a problem?" Kaguya's voice was playful and cute, belying the serious tone of the discussion.

Clovis put a hand to his chin and struck a contemplative pose.

"No, I don't suppose so. I mean, we're all on the same side, right?"

"If we're on the same side, shouldn't we let her in on the plan?

"Cornelia is especially straight-laced. We may only want to include her as a last resort. Besides, Geass is secret for a reason. The fewer who know about it, the better."

"But Lelouch and C.C. are bringing more people in all the time. Did you know right after he got back from London he called Sayoko into his office and made a Contract with her?"

Clovis shook his head slowly.

"It doesn't matter. Who he chooses to bring in for his part of the plan doesn't affect us. All we have to worry about is keeping things running smoothly on our end."

"And should Cornelia make our job _difficult_? What then?"

Kaguya said the words as gently as she could, knowing family was a touchy subject for Clovis. It could even be considered the most important thing in his life, right above parties and the ladies. Taking action against Cornelia, regardless if it was something big, or merely harmless misdirection, put a sour taste in his mouth.

"So long as we keep to the plan, Lelouch will be free to resolve this matter before it ever comes to that."

GGGGGGGG


	20. The Kings Cometh: Scene 6

**The Kings Cometh: Scene 6 (Scrying-III)**

Operation Codebreaker was in its early stages, but still going full speed ahead, as C.C., Kallen and Anya spent the month following their mission to London touring across the EU. The latter two marvelled the whole way at the splendourous sights and richness of culture from France to Turkey, while C.C. was bored to tears, having already spent hundreds of years doing just that. Their ultimate destination, however, was not in the EU. Back in London, C.C. had found the closest Thought Elevator to be in northern Iran, well within the borders of the Chinese Federation. Though it would be greatly preferable to continue on their vacation, finding the ancient sites of Geass within the Union's territory first, such a course was highly impractical. They only had one lead to work with. It would have to do.

_While still in London, immediately following the discovery of the Iranian Thought Elevator's position, Lelouch had taken a moment with a map and planned a route for the trio of women to take. While they did that, he would return to Britannia and go through the monumental process of organizing an expedition to find the Antarctica Thought Elevator._

The greenette, the redhead, and the pinkette all, crisscrossed their way across Europe, creeping country by country ever farther east, sightseeing along the way and generally having a damn good time. Finally, all that stood in their way was getting past the Chinese Federation borders. Though all nations in the world were now ostensibly allied to one another, borders between supernations were a completely different story. Internal border security within the world's supernations, (the European Union, the Chinese Federation, and Britannia), was nonexistent, instead focusing all efforts on keeping track of foreigners. For C.C.'s team to get to the next Thought Elevator, that was an obstacle they'd have to overcome. This was where things would get interesting.

On their way to the very edge of Russia's southern border, right up against the western coast of the Caspian Sea, the Codehunters thought up a plan: Hide their identities and rent a plane from a port to take them over the water, (if they couldn't find a plane then the rest of their plan was more than a little derailed), then ditch the hired pilot and skirt along the sea's coast until they were in Iran. From there, they could just take it easy, flying along in the general direction of the Thought Elevator until C.C. found something that looked familiar to what she'd seen in searching for the place. They'd pop in, activate the site, find the next spot, then teleport back to the London Thought Elevator quick as could be. Once done, they'd be far away from their illegal crossing of the border and their theft of a civilian seaplane, and be set to go searching for their next target.

As it turned out, they got lucky at the city of Derbent. With a wealth of experience to draw from and just a minimal amount of effort, C.C. managed to find a guy who not only had a plane, but was willing to take her and her friends for a ride. After acquiring their transport and leaving its owner unconscious not far from civilization, the trio encountered their first problem.

"What do you MEAN you can't fly a plane!?" Kallen screamed at Anya who sat aghast in the pilot's seat, fumbling with the controls.

_After getting off the ground and away from the city, Kallen made up an excuse to get the pilot to land before actually starting to fly over the Caspian Sea. Once they touched down, C.C. laid her hand against the man and he simply went limp. Anya took the controls while her fellows threw their unfortunate host out of the plane as gently as they could. They started moving again and went up, faster and faster, until..._

"I thought it would be like pilotting a knightmare!" Anya's words came out rapidly, almost seeming to run into one as she squeaked her anxious response. "It's not!"

She frantically tried to keep the plane level in the sky, but to little avail. The gauges were all over the place and warning lights were flashing rapidly. From somewhere, a loud beeping sounded, as if they didn't know they were in trouble.

"Weregonnadieweregonnadie..."

"Correction." C.C. seemed completely unbothered by their current predicament. "YOU both are going to die. I'll be fine."

Anya and Kallen turned their heads as one to reply to the immortal's joke.

"NOT HELPING!"

Kallen took a deep breath and tried to think what to do. She didn't know how to fly a plane any more than Anya did, but maybe if she could just look at the controls for a while? After all, she was an ace knightmare pilot. Surely she could figure out at least how to land. But no, she didn't have enough time for that before they went too high or dived too low and crashed. There just wasn't enough time! If only she could just see faster or...

A thought popping into her head, Kallen closed her right eye and activated the Geass in her left, using it to look out upon the world. Everything seemed to slow down around her while her thoughts, if not her body, were just as fast as usual. She'd just _created _time to think out of thin air! It was an unexpected, but certainly welcome, result of seeing in slow mo. She stared at the plane's dashboard, gazing at every little dial and button carefully. To her eye, the warning lights that were flashing so doomfully before now seemed to turn on and off at a leisurely pace. Maybe Kallen could have even figured out what to do, but there was still one more problem. Everything was labeled in Russian. Well, there went that plan. She deactivated her Geass.

"What a crappy way to go out."

C.C. rolled her eyes and groaned in frustration, pushing Anya aside and taking her spot in the pilot's seat. Under her ministrations, the plane stopped its pattern of swerving back and forth, rising and falling, and stabilized in the air. Anya rubbed her bottom, hurt from being shoved, and glared at the immortal. Kallen fumbled for something to say and gave a look of unrestrained irritation at the completely calm greenette.

"Why didn't you tell us you could fly this thing?"

C.C. fluttered her eyelashes at her friend and smiled sweetly, mockingly.

"You didn't ask."

Kallen thought she felt a blood vessel in her head pop as her sudden irritation turned to rage, (much to C.C.'s amusement).

"You just... You... We could have _died _and you... NO PIZZA WHEN WE GET BACK!"

C.C.'s smile turned upside down and she fixed her sight firmly forward.

"Party pooper."

CCCCCCCC


	21. The Kings Cometh: Scene 7

**The Kings Cometh: Scene 7 (Reprieve)**

In the past month, since he started earning Military Engineering Credit with ASEEC, things had changed for Rivalz Cardemonde. He wasn't entirely sure he was pleased with how they had changed, either. On the one hand, his supervisor Lloyd Asplund was a genuis and was teaching him all sorts of things none of his teachers had any idea about. He also got to see Milly more often, so that was a plus. On the other hand though, Lloyd Asplund was also flamboyantly insane, and married to said girl, so that kinda sucked. For every one thing Rivalz enjoyed, like learning how to build an army grade factsphere, or falling asleep every night reading knightmare manuals to prepare for the next day, he had to endure a rant on the strangest of subjects from the looney scientist.

"Make sure to wash your hands before touching Lancelot," Lloyd once said with a completely straight face. "He doesn't like to get dirt on his paintjob."

It made Rivalz's heavy schedule, (Monday PMU classes, then Tuesday through Saturday working for Lloyd to earn MEC), even more exhausting. As for Milly, she would pop in to the labs every day just to say hello, and have brief conversations with the ASEEC crew before Lloyd thought up a new assignment for his minions.

Milly's life with Lloyd was, she claimed, a perfect existence for the both of them. The Ashford woman had kept her own last name since getting married, and even taken on a job to keep busy, contrary to all the norms and aspirations of the nobility. Since moving to Pendragon, Milly had gotten into the stage theatre business for fun, and used some of the public recognition and fame from performances to get a full-time position with the local news as an anchorwoman. Her immediate superior, some guy named Diethard Ried, had also just started working there, and welcomed her heartily into the business.

Because Lloyd spent so much time in the lab, and because Milly was always out at work or rehearsing for a new play, their house together wasn't very lived in. It was a small place, once again very uncommon for the upper nobility, but it served its purpose and felt more like a home than any mansion. Besides, if they wanted to lounge in extreme opulance they could always go down the street a couple of blocks to Lelouch's place where he'd built the new Imperial Palace.

According to Milly, Lloyd was a sweet, if absentminded, guy with a knack for making her day just a little brighter. Rivalz and Cécile found this hard to believe, but Milly swore by it. For the first time it seemed, both of them had found someone who they really related to. Both Milly and Lloyd could share their wacky personalities with each other as they pleases, without fear of ever incurring the disapproving stares they usually received for their antics. One of their favourite topics of conversation, whether on date nights they both managed to remember to attend or just relaxing before bed, was to bounce ideas back and forth. Becoming president of the world, throwing city-wide parties, implausible redecoration, almost anything, they'd lose track of time just talking together about all the random ideas they had throughout the day and how they could make them a reality.

Lloyd called himself a sociopath, but from her more than 2 years of being engaged to the man, and subsequently marrying him, Milly knew he was no such thing. It wasn't that he had no emotions or morals, she said, it was just that he was a very focused person. When spending all his efforts on his work, the feelings of others ceased to matter to him in all but the most basic of ways and his care for anything but what was right in front of him became dulled.

Also, contrary to what most assumed, he wasn't _completely _asexual...

That was quite a lot more than Rivalz really cared to hear, and, at his request, the subject was never brought up again.

There were other postives about working at ASEEC though. Cécile was a very nice woman, and since he started with the R and D department, (he still wasn't sure how he felt about working in a secret underground lab and being let in on classified projects), she'd taken Rivalz under her wing.

Even though he only went to school one day of the week, Rivalz still had to do all the class assignments, and with only Sunday completely free, he had to hustle to just barely get everything done in time. During working days, while taking lunches or breaks, Rivalz would sometimes pull out his books and papers, and try to chip away at the homework that seemed to pile up in front of him without end.

"Hm? What're you doing, Rivalz?" Cécile asked him one day while he sat on the floor in the Observation Foyer.

"Homework." He drawled out the word like it was poison. Cécile gave a knowing smile and sat down next to him, bringing a curious look to Rivalz's face.

"Did you want some help?"

Cécile Croomy, Rivalz decided, was an angel. Not only did her tutoring allow him to keep his grades up back in school, she would always lend him a sympathetic ear when he had something bothering him. No matter the subject, she would listen intently and never shut him down, answering only if the context allowed it. Sometimes Rivalz would lament his failure to catch Milly's eye, and Cécile would nod along in understanding. Other times he'd recount tales of what Lelouch was like during high school and Cécile would laugh with him as the stories rolled out, one after the other. Over the weeks, they shared plenty a moment of consternation at their silver-haired boss too.

Exactly 3 weeks after Rivalz started at ASEEC, he was told the crew was going on an all-expenses-paid, 3 day working vacation to Mexico City, courtesy of His Majesty. As a member of the crew, student or not, he was allowed to come. They'd bring some of the new knightmares they'd built and give them a few test runs, then have all the rest of their time free to do as they wished. Could it really get better than that?

The looks Rivalz received when he told his classmates about it were priceless.

"You're going to the Mexico Settlem- I mean, Mexico City?"

"For FREE?"

"You know His Majesty PERSONALLY!?"

Rivalz could hardly wait.

LLLLLLLLLLLL

Jeremiah Gottwald was a man dedicated completely to his king. He'd given his all for a month, planning and plotting with Emperor Lelouch and Suzaku Kururugi, travelling with them by ship all the way to Antactica, and coming all the way back once their business was at an end.

They journeyed to that frost-encased land to find an ancient artifact of Geass, a Thought Elevator forgotten by time, and they succeeded. It wasn't exactly hard for Lelouch to find the relic either, as he knew exactly where to look from the visions he'd received at the Cuban site. The problem, they found, was that the Thought Elevator's entrance was covered with snow and ice, and it took days of shift-work from their hired help to uncover it. That done, Lelouch entered, got what he needed, and they all left as swiftly as they could.

Throughout that whole rotten experience, from dealing with the rude and smelly commoners that ferried the Codehunters to their destination, to spending a week shivering in hastily contructed shelters, Jeremiah hadn't said a word against Lelouch. He was a paragon of loyalty, and it showed in every aspect of his life.

This included his romantic life as well.

Since meeting Sayoko Shinozaki, Jeremiah had come to the realization that there were others in the world besides him that knew the value of loyalty. They'd first met shortly after Lelouch took on the mask of Zero, way back 4 years ago. It was a match made in heaven. Whereas Jeremiah respected clear and open dedication to their liege, Sayoko was more fond of supporting Lelouch from the shadows, yet it mattered not to them. Regardless of what talents or mindsets they had, they still pledged their honour on making Lelouch's dreams a reality. And that was as good a reason as any to get to know each other...

The new Imperial Palace that Lelouch built in Pendragon was fundamentally different from the dens of opulance his forefathers had erected to convey their superiority to the underprivileged masses. Rather, it was a home first, with entire wings of the massive spired building being devoted to housing not only the emperor himself, but all his family, (minus Schneizel, who was still confined to his own estate for his crimes in the last war), key members of his administration, the highest and most trusted members of his army, honoured guests, and the many personnel that kept the palace functioning day to day. Jeremiah had his own private rooms, not far from Lelouch's quarters, and Sayoko made her residence in a suite just one door down.

With the next phase of Operation Codebreaker about to begin, this was a rare moment of calm for the Knight of Orange and his ninja-maid assassin girlfriend to relax and connect.

They sat together at Jeremiah's small kitchen table the night he and the rest of Lelouch's team made it home, chatting and enjoying each other's company over a light dinner. Though there was a spacious dining room in the palace with a grand ballroom just a door away, Lelouch had insisted on the importance of private kitchens in every set of quarters for those who were less inclined towards communal feasting. For Jeremiah and Sayoko, it was one of the best ideas their lord had ever come up with.

"You should have seen him!" Jeremiah laughed, motioning with his arms to emphasize his point. "The poor kid was practically a popsicle before we even got off the boat!" He referred to Suzaku, whose experience on their mission to the land of ice was his first time in truly frigid weather. Sayoko put a hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh.

"I'm glad Lelouch-sama didn't ask me to come along with you all, otherwise I'd be a popsicle too!"

"That would be alright, I'd be right there to suck on you." Jeremiah's joke came to an abrupt halt as he realized embarrassedly what he'd just said. Sayoko simply began to laugh harder.

"Smooth, Orange-kun. Real smooth."

Jeremiah cleared his throat, thankful Sayoko wasn't offended by his poor choice of words. It was still hard for him to tell what was okay to say and what wasn't when it came to the Japanese woman. The differences in their native cultures confounded them both, even after knowing each other for so long.

"So how's Princess Nunnally been?" Jeremiah decided it was for the best to change the subject.

"She's been well. Since Rolo started taking care of her she's been in very high spirits..." She didn't say the next few words. 'Despite her brother not being around.'

Lelouch had certainly been busy since becoming emperor, but really, he'd been paying Nunnally very little attention ever since becoming Zero. It was good that Rolo had shown up and made friends with her. Where did he come from? Few besides Lelouch's inner circle knew. Fewer still cared. He was a charming young man that showered love and care upon his princess, and that was good enough for most people.

"Speaking of Rolo, he's going with you to India, right?"

Sayoko nodded, frowning slightly as the topic of discussion rolled back around to work, as it always did. It wasn't Jeremiah's fault. She knew that. They were confidants to the Britannian emperor. With all the schemes and clandestine activities he was including the two on, it was to be expected that some of those subjects might pop up in private conversation.

"He is. Lelouch-sama said Naoto's team didn't have enough Geass-power to ensure success with only me."

"So Princess Nunnally..." Jeremiah motioned with his hands, trying to coax Sayoko into answering his unasked question.

"Clovis and Kaguya obviously can't take her, so Lelouch, Rolo and I decided she could spend a few days with Cornelia and Euphemia."

Jeremiah let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Of course Nunnally would be left in good company. What did he expect? For Lelouch to send her to visit the disgraced Prince Schneizel? The thought was laughable.

"You know I missed you?"

Sayoko raised a coy brow and leaned over the table between them to kiss Jeremiah on the tip of his nose. He sneezed as she plopped lightly back into her seat.

"You can repay me for that 10 times over when we all get back safe."

Jeremiah grinned and leaned over the table between them to press his lips against hers. She closed her eyes and pressed back against him, intent to enjoy this short moment between them without thought for anything else.

SSSSSSSSSS

Suzaku had a lot to reflect on. Four years ago he was considered an Eleven, and on that basis was he denied a great many things. He could not call his home Japan, he could not speak his native langauge, he wasn't even given a firearm despite being an infantryman. Now he was a Britannian, and the Knight of One of all things! "The greatest knight in the realm," he would never have believed such a thing possible for himself. And he had Euphy too. He was courting the beautiful Pink Princess of Britannia herself. Him! Of course, they grudgingly had to take their relationship much slower than they really wanted. Lelouch and Cornelia were protective of their sister, to different degrees perhaps but protective all the same, and they forbid the two from making reckless decisions.

With the victory over Charles, and Suzaku now elevated, he was sure life would be a little quieter and he'd be able to spend more time with Euphy, but then Lelouch had to go and include him on his new little scheme. It wasn't like he couldn't understand the importance of finding all the Codes, (though he was very skeptical of their existence at first), it was just that he wanted "world peace" to actually entail world peace. But, as always, frustratingly, Lelouch was right. What they'd bought with their blood against Charles was only peace on the surface. Underneath, there was always the threat of some new demagogue cropping up with Geass as his sword and scepter.

With that thought in mind, Suzaku accepted a Geass from Lelouch, the power of Absolute Pacification. No person within his range could intentionally kill anyone else while his power was active. Suzaku was fearful his Geass might be to control people, like Lelouch said his was, but was relieved when it turned out to be so incredibly harmless. It felt good to know he finally had a way to get people to stop fighting. Lelouch warned though, all Geass came with one major drawback, that they would inevitably become permanently active. "Too much of a good thing..." the saying went. Suzaku was confident though. How could people not killing each other be a bad thing? At the time, Lelouch looked like he had an idea, but refrained from answering.

"When we have all the Codes, Suzaku," Lelouch had said. "I want you to take one."

Immortality? If achieving the rank of Knight of One was improbable, than being granted immortality by his benevolent best-friend-slash-emperor was beyond impossible.

"And Euphy?" Suzaku responded.

"We'll give her one after Codebreaker is finished. Code-Bearers are dangerous and I don't want her involved in this until that danger's gone."

With all the places Lelouch had been going, with Suzaku by his side, the Knight of One had barely spent any time with Euphemia for almost two whole months. Now on the eve of his return from Antarctica, Suzaku was finally able to see the princess, and inform her he had to go away yet again very soon.

"But Suzaku!" Euphemia complained as they walked hand in hand from the Imperial Palace's dining room to an exit leading outdoors. "You've been gone so much! Couldn't you just stay behind for once? Sayoko and Rolo are going away for a few days too, so Nunnally will be staying with me and Cornelia. Wouldn't you rather spend that time with us?"

The night air was cool on their skins. For Euphemia, it was a refreshing change from the stuffiness and lingering smell of sawdust and paint of the newly built palace. For Suzaku, it was refreshing to feel something other than the unrelenting cold of the frozen far south.

"Sorry, Euphy," he said back sadly. "We're going to test the new Lancelot Lloyd built for me. I'm the pilot, so I have to be there."

"But you'll be right back, right?" She turned to face him and linked their free hands together. They stood there, looking into each other's eyes, holding both each other's hands in front of them. If Euphy had looked just little bit farther down, she might have noticed Suzaku's lips, pressed together tightly to keep himself from revealing any secrets.

"Of course," he said a little too quickly, to cover his wavering voice. "It'll only be for 3 days. And besides, it's only Mexico. It's not like I'll be going halfway around the world again."

Euphemia flashed a content smile and released Suzaku's hands from her own, moving to pull him in for a close hug. In turn, Suzaku wrapped his arms around the princess and laid his chin gently against her head as she snuggled against his shoulder.

"Suzaku?" she asked quietly, still basking in the warmth and soft touch of Suzaku's body against hers. "When you get back again, let's go on a date."

"Yes, Princess," Suzaku replied slowly, happily.

"Let's go out to a restaurant, then see a movie, just like all the normal couples do."

"Yes, Princess."

"Do you promise?"

"Yes, Princess."

While they held each other in the early night's chill air, neither Suzaku nor Euphemia noticed a figure standing by the exit, watching them the whole time. Cornelia li Britannia narrowed her eyes at the knight's mention of another trip; another random trip, so soon after the last two, with an unsurprisingly coincidental alibi to go along with it. This was more of Lelouch's doing no doubt. He'd probably even go along as well. If it actually was just knightmare testing then there was no reason to go all the way to Mexico City for it. No, there was a true reason for Suzaku and whoever else to go all that way, and even if she couldn't get the answer out of Clovis or the rest of Lelouch's lackeys, she'd be damned before giving up on finding out what it was.

Without a sound, Cornelia opened the door leading back to the palace's dining room and stepped in, casting a suspicious glare down upon Suzaku before closing it behind her.

LLLLLLLLLLLL


	22. The Kings Cometh: Codebreaker-I

**The Kings Cometh: Scene 8 (Codebreaker-I)**

At Lelouch's suggestion shortly after the war, Rakshata Chawla began contruction of a new Guren to replace the one destroyed during the Siege of Pendragon. She even would have been fine with him breathing down her neck about it if only he hadn't insisted she include "energy wings." Apparently, he'd given the idea to Lloyd to invent such a thing, and the mad scientist made it happen in almost no time at all. The first pair of energy wings were installed onto his own new knightmare, the Lancelot Albion, and they were a tremendous theoretical success, (the pudding addict still hadn't bothered to test if they actually worked). It was a blow to Rakshata's ego that she'd been outdone, but worse even than that, the ASEEC director hadn't seen fit to pass on his findings to her. Rather, he decided he would just make a pair of energy wings for the new Guren himself, keeping the secrets behind his most brilliant creation, ("yet," he was sure to remind everyone), secret. When she found out he'd been tampering with her work, she was furious, but somehow they managed to patch things up between each other and agreed to play nice like they used to.

Lloyd gave Rakshata all the info she needed, but she had to come up with the materials to build her Guren's energy wings herself.

For any normal person, this wouldn't be an issue, but Rakshata was hardly what most people would consider normal. What they would say, if they were being particularly polite, was that Rakshata Chawla was _very _eccentric; almost as much or even more than Lloyd, her eternal rival. To most sane people looking in, it seemed the two were in a neverending contest with each other to be stranger and more out of touch with reality than the other at all times. Of course, as a married man perhaps Lloyd was finally coming down to earth, if only a little. Regardless of who was winning that contest, it could not be argued that Rakshata was a very picky woman. As such, she would only get parts for her mechanical masterpieces straight from the Militarized District of India.

"It's the only place I can trust to supply me with premium pieces," she once said.

When time and circumstance allowed, she would even go personally to inspect the quality of the metal and machinery she was going to use in her creations. With the Guren SEITEN in the final stages of building, she planned to go back to India for just that purpose, which gave Lelouch the excuse he needed to send his Codehunters to accompany her.

_There were 8 Thought Elevators in the world. That was now certain. Over the previous few months, Lelouch and those loyal to him had journeyed far and wide, and visited all but one of them. C.C. and her team had successfully found their way to the Geass relic of Iran, and found both its Code-Bearer and the location of the next Thought Elevator. The next site of Geass for them to find was in southern Africa, and as that was part of the EU's territory, there were almost no problems in getting access to it and locating its Code-Bearer as well. With his map of Geass now almost completely filled in, Lelouch and his teams could move in, bringing Operation Codebreaker to a swift end._

At the turn of noon, on the side of a bustling Delhi street, Rakshata walked quickly, unbothered by such trivial and fleeting things as _nostalgia _for the land she used to call home. Behind her, garnering a great many interested stares from passersby, was Zero and some of his subordinates, pleasant Gino Weinberg, serious Mitchell Perry, reserved José Evans, and the constantly depressed Masashi Kuroda. Behind them was Rolo Lamperouge, curiously looking at the buildings around them, searching the rooftops for something, or someone, unseen. Sayoko Shinozaki stayed hidden, moving silently along the rooftops, performing a search of her own.

As far as Rakshata knew, they were only there to pick up an order of electrical impulse wires for the energy wings of her new pet project. Rolo and that woman Sayoko, who seemed to come and go without warning, were emissaries for Lelouch, to make sure she got what she needed and wasn't hassled. The new knightmare was for Kallen, and since the redhead had more or less retired from the Black Knights, Lelouch, and not Zero, was footing the bill for it to be built. Knowing the Black King, Rakshata wasn't at all surprised he would send agents to make sure there wasn't any trouble getting what they came for. He was cautious, never leaving anything up to chance. She could respect that, to a degree, but on a more personal level Rakshata thought he should just lighten up.

Why Zero came along was beyond her, though. He said he wanted to know just where the weapons of the Black Knights were manufactured, and invited himself and his socially unadjusted cronies along. His excuse was probably a lie, but Rakshata didn't really care. They were along for the ride so they were fair game to verbally overwhelm with techno-babble. That suited her just fine.

The real reason they were all present was to find the Iranian Thought Elevator's Code-Bearer, who supposedly was hiding out here in Delhi. They didn't really have much to go on other than a few maps of the city with notes from C.C. sent via email, but they did have Sayoko, so that made things much easier. Her Geass allowed her to keep track of everyone, and their perceived threat level, within a certain distance of her person; a notable exception to the much more common, unethical powers of coercion. Whenever she wished, she could use her Geass and simply _know _where everyone was, as if her brain was temporarily rewired to work as a radar with an attached IFF. Of course, she couldn't pick up the presence of Code-Bearers with her power, so she improvised.

By making use of the varying heights of the rooftops around her, Sayoko could get a bird's eye perspective of the many throngs of people walking, biking and driving to wherever they needed to be on the city streets below. With her Geass active, she made mental checklists, making sure every one of the hundreds of civilians minding their own business down below were accounted for by her Geass. Then, every once and a while, she would move on to a different roof to avoid being seen or to catch up with the rest of the Codehunters and their unknowing excuse for being there, Rakshata.

It was a slow-going process, but after many hours of on-and-off searches in the areas of the city C.C. had mentioned to look specifically, Sayoko finally saw someone who she couldn't keep track of with her Geass. It had to be the person they were looking for.

The apparent target was a young-looking woman, small and demure, wearing an unobtrustive tan dress and shuffling along slowly on the other side of the street. She was Indian, the Hindu bindi on her forehead a clear giveaway. Long, combed brown hair, parted down the middle, framed a round face and ended in a braid slung over her right shoulder. Small rimless glasses sat lightly against a tiny nose, hiding sad brown eyes.

"Target in sight," Sayoko whispered. "Across the street, less than 50 meters from your position."

Though it went unnoticed, Sayoko and the rest of her companions, minus Zero, whose helmet could seemingly do anything, wore a tiny personal radio to keep in contact with each other. A cord with an earbud and attached microphone came up from the folds of their casual clothes, the only sign there was anything out of the ordinary.

"Roger that," Zero whispered back, his natural voice coming through on everyone's comm. He nodded to Gino who took the cue and sleazed his way closer to Rakshata.

"Say, Rakshata, did I ever tell you why I wanted to be Knight of Zero?"

Rakshata shrugged, never slowing her pace.

"Well, ever since I turned 12 I've really like the ladies - I guess Prince Clovis and I have that in common - so I was thinking since we're here..."

Gino moved in to occupy the scientist's attention, both of them continuing on their route even while Zero and the rest of his team fell behind.

"All units take cover," Zero had turned the speakers in his helmet off so no one but his radio-equipped teammates could hear him. Before he even finished his order, Mitchell, José and Masashi began running in different directions, but staying within sight and on the same side of the road. Zero took off as well, leaving Rolo standing alone, with simple folk streaming around him, trying to move on with their business.

Rolo closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and held it. As he opened his eyes once more, the colour in the right was replaced with red. Everyone within a huge radius simply stopped moving. Despite their attempt to stay out of range, even Zero and his companions were frozen in time. Rolo wasn't sure what he expected to happen when he used his Geass, but it was causing a real mess. The road, so crowded and chaotic with human traffic before, ground to an eerie halt, with cars sliding into each other and people falling off their bicycles. Luckily it didn't seem anyone was _too _hurt by the abrupt stop, but then again, nobody was conscious and wailing in pain just yet.

On the other side of the street there was movement. A woman was looking frantically at the traffic accidents and the people all around her who'd stopped in their tracks. She was unaffected by Geass? Then this was indeed their target.

Rolo stepped around the numerous human obstacles, making his way across the street to the woman who was hesitantly examining the people frozen around her. She stopped as she noticed him coming. She became still and her face turned from concerned bewilderment to outright, terrified panic.

"Excuse me!" Rolo called to her amid the dead silence of the once bustling street. "Do you understand English?"

Rolo slowly released the breath he'd been holding as he spoke. His heart hurt. One day, when his Geass became permanent, everything around Rolo would stop, then his heart would almost certainly give out and he would stop too. Once, he wouldn't have minded such an end. Knowing it was his inevitable fate wouldn't stop it from coming, and fearing it would only make his short time until then miserable. Besides, he didn't have anything to live for anyway.

But then he was assigned that failed mission to kill Zero.

_As a price for his failure, Rolo's enemies threw him in a cell and left him to rot. Rolo wasn't surprised, nor did he mind. It was only right for failure to be punished. V.V. would have done worse anyway._

_Lelouch came to him though, had spoken with him, treated him like a human being. It felt strange for Rolo to speak so openly with another person, especially someone who was allied to his target._

_Then Nunnally came to see him. She visited him in the dungeon regularly and was cheerful to him every time. She asked him his name and he told her. After all, what was there to lose by that point? She wasn't satisfied with that, though. She asked him for his last name and he replied that he didn't have one. She thought for a moment before deciding._

_"Then you can share my last name with me and Lelouch!" She giggled and half-seriously made a motion with her hand, as if to knight the boy even though they were separated by a wall of iron bars. "I, Princess Nunnally vi Britannia, dub thee Rolo Lamperouge."_

_Upon hearing those words that meant so much more to him than he could have ever imagined, his eyes betrayed him and he wept for joy._

_Nunnally was kind, even nicer to him than Lelouch had been. And what's more, she meant it. She wasn't nice to get information out of him, she was friendly because it came from some place deep within her, and Rolo reveled in it. He adored the attention, the care, the promises of family and friends. For the first time, he felt bad that his Geass would eventually kill him and take him away from the beautiful blind angel that had made him feel human for the first time in his life._

_Later, after Rolo was finally released from his prison, Lelouch gave a hand-written sheet of instructions to the boy, detailing excercises and habits to keep, to strengthen the heart and hopefully prevent his death whenever his Geass became too powerful for him to control. It wasn't a guarantee. Lelouch never said that it was, nor did he say anything else about the sheet of instructions he'd given Rolo. Still, there was some hope to be had, and now that he had something to live for, someone to live for, he realized he actually wanted to keep living._

"Breathe in, breathe out," Rolo coached himself as he continued approaching the small woman on the other side of the street.

"W-who are you?" the woman asked quietly. She looked into Rolo's eyes and shook with fear at the red of his right iris and the winged sigil emblazoned across it.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I only want to talk."

She placed a hand against her left shoulder, took a step back, and gulped.

"Arē nahīṁ."

She ran.

Rolo watched her go, pushing people frozen in time aside, not taking a single look back even as their bodies thumped to the ground.

"Well, shit," was all Rolo could think to say. He released his Geass and fell to his knees, taking rapid deep breaths and clutching his chest. The scene in the street, quiet and unmoving until now, instantly returned to life. Groans of pain could be heard everywhere, but they were mere pindrops compared to the outbursts of confusion and rage. There were maybe a hundred collisions of cars and buggies in the street, and nobody could tell why.

"Target... Fleeing..." Rolo gasped out the words for his comrades to hear over their comms.

"Confirmed. Sayoko, give us directions!" Zero placed a hand against the side of his helmet as he spoke, the spell of Geass no longer affecting him or his men. Finding what he was looking for, he pushed a sequence of buttons on his helmet then shoved his way through a horde of people, rubbernecking at the chaos in the street. Behind him, José, Mitchell and Masashi came too, moving in separate arcs through the confusion to get to the other side of the road.

In a blur of perfectly planned and executed motion, Sayoko appeared from the top of a small building, somersaulting in the air and landing in a low crouch on the hood of a car in the middle of the street. She wasted no time, not letting her momentum stop, leaping up gracefully from her new perch and flipping onto the top of another car, and another. She took one final lunge as she drew near to the buildings on the other side of the traffic catastrophe, and reached out her hand. Sayoko's fingers met with warm metal as she took hold of a small balcony's railing. Sayoko shifted her body and flung herself up, flowing from the guardrail to a window ledge, then to an awning, practically flying up the side until she landed on her feet atop the roof. Without missing a beat, she began running again to the next rooftop, in pursuit of the fleeing Code-Bearer.

"This is Sayoko. Target is turning, she's moving into the alleys."

Zero's squad sped off, following Sayoko's directions and peeling into the alleys. Zero dashed in as well, taking a different course.

Meanwhile, Rolo still laid on his knees, trying to catch his breath. To his left, a man came up to him and tried to help him up. Rolo glared back and reached into his pocket reflexively, his fingers taking hold of his trusty switchblade. He was in a lot of pain from his heart and hadn't gotten the target to come quietly either. His mood, if he'd even been in a good one until now, was shot, and this guy coming up to him was asking for a knife to the throat.

Before he could draw his weapon though, and gouge the unfortunate Good Samaritan, he stopped himself. The image of Princess Nunnally's smiling face flashed through Rolo's mind and he took his hand from his pocket, leaving the knife in its place. Brushing off the bothersome man, he got to his feet, and, chest still heaving, ran into the alleys after the rest of his team.

The woman ran, she bumped into people, pushed past them, she just kept on running. She turned her head to look behind her. Someone was there, running, chasing her. She tried turning into another dark corridor between buildings, but stopped as another man came around the corner and started running toward her. She pressed on and tried turning again, but there was another man coming around that corner too. She kept running as a warcry erupted from somewhere above her. A woman descended onto her from the rooftops, pouncing against her and pushing her head and arm into a hold, forcing her to the ground. With just a thought, she activated her Code, and the woman who'd grabbed her shrieked and released her, falling to the ground herself, shaking in wide-eyed horror.

The woman, the Code-Bearer, ran at a breakneck pace, desperately trying to lose her assailants when the shadows of the alley themselves seemed to reach out and take her roughly about the arm and mouth. She felt cloth on her face and smelled something pungent, then the world went black.

Zero took his hands from the Code-Bearer, removing the chloroform-dipped hankey from her mouth and catching her as she flopped onto the ground. José, Mitchell and Masashi ran up behind her and stopped to check in with their leader.

"Masashi, it's time to go."

The sullen man nodded to Zero and pulled out his cellphone, pushing the speed dial and walking back out to the road as he gave instructions to the person on the other line.

Zero took off his cape and draped it over the unconscious Indian woman. Mitchell and José took her gently from Zero and grabbed hold of her body from the legs and shoulders. It wasn't an ideal end to the mission with Sayoko as a casualty, but it was a success, so they had that much to be thankful for.

Rolo walked up with a scowl on his face, Sayoko hanging off his shoulder in a daze. Zero tilted his head, as if questioning, and Rolo's irritation waned slightly.

"She's fine. The target just fed her a bad dream."

Zero nodded, knowing all too well what that was like. He motioned for his team to move out and they started their way out of the alley. Masashi was waiting for them as they finally got out to the road, where people were still arguing angrily about hitting each other with their vehicles. A shiney black and silver hummer drove around the continuing chaos and screeched to a halt in front of them and Masashi opened the back door. His teammates shoved the still unconscious Code-Bearer into a seat, sitting her upright, and filed in beside her. Zero got into the front passenger seat while Rolo struggled with Sayoko. Mitchell impatiently reached out and pulled her and him both in roughly. Amidst their own quarrels, not a single person noticed the hummer's coming or its going as the door shut and it accelerated away.

NNNNNNNNN


End file.
